tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75539837865632311562018-08-27T23:40:15.390-07:00Miranda in PalestineMiranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-13231174483056134352014-11-28T10:24:00.001-08:002014-11-28T10:24:19.583-08:00Catch up - Channel 4 News<a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/261114">Catch up - Channel 4 News</a>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-70736608717717216702014-03-22T10:48:00.000-07:002014-03-26T00:27:18.101-07:00Ibellin and Israel March 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2 style="text-align: left;"></h2><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-svCtAaJcolQ/Uyv_ffMo1RI/AAAAAAAAPJs/BDL3GKCfY-Q/s1600/DSC02673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-svCtAaJcolQ/Uyv_ffMo1RI/AAAAAAAAPJs/BDL3GKCfY-Q/s1600/DSC02673.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The church of Elias Chacour</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_5328039c3582b2560154680" style="display: inline; text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-35mAXaTGDRk/UysdrCKH4NI/AAAAAAAAPGI/FCFIYruKXbU/s1600/DSC02566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; display: inline !important; line-height: 17.940000534057617px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-35mAXaTGDRk/UysdrCKH4NI/AAAAAAAAPGI/FCFIYruKXbU/s1600/DSC02566.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The steps leading up to the</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">church with the Beatitudes</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">&nbsp;in several languages</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hZxCQh78c1M/UysgXDhMPuI/AAAAAAAAPGU/cVlcpQLoG-E/s1600/DSC02576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">I travelled to Israel on March 2nd 2014 primarily to visit Ibillin in the hope of a&nbsp;personal interview with Abuna Elias&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">Chacour who was the&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16.1200008392334px;">&nbsp;Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 2006 to just before I arrived. He had only just retired. St John's Church has been supporting his work since Rev. Graham Trasler took groups on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 1980s and 90s.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">Elias Chacour has written several books recounting his childhood in Bir'em, a Palestinian Christian village in the N</span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;">orth of what is now Israel.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1948 the villagers were forced to leave their homes and the village except for the church and graveyard, were destroyed by Israeli forces. Much later he became a priest and was sent to Ibellin, where he found&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;who were cut off even from books&nbsp;and education.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8gHeOnPPfcY/UywAisszqUI/AAAAAAAAPKE/ODnahqEDKsw/s1600/DSC02965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8gHeOnPPfcY/UywAisszqUI/AAAAAAAAPKE/ODnahqEDKsw/s1600/DSC02965.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Ash Wednesday Ashing ceremony&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">performed&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">by Bernhard, the German priest</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciT8pRv080E/UysgnyofaMI/AAAAAAAAPGk/0Xl6Uh2LqUY/s1600/DSC02605.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciT8pRv080E/UysgnyofaMI/AAAAAAAAPGk/0Xl6Uh2LqUY/s1600/DSC02605.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Inside the church</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elias set about creating schools and a college and opened it up to Muslims, Christians and Jews, because as the title of an early book of his states, they are all 'Blood Brothers'. His work and journey have not been easy and he has been a&nbsp;frequent&nbsp;attendee of Israeli courts as planning requests were inevitably turned down.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-hZxCQh78c1M%2FUysgXDhMPuI%2FAAAAAAAAPGU%2FcVlcpQLoG-E%2Fs1600%2FDSC02576.JPG&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hZxCQh78c1M/UysgXDhMPuI/AAAAAAAAPGU/cVlcpQLoG-E/s1600/DSC02576.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">Even the people I sat with on my flight over gave a taste of the divisions in this land. Next to me was an Israeli avidly reading a huge tome on the background and cults of Islam, and on the aisle seat, was a very tired looking Roman Catholic priest. On the way back it was journalists who occupied the two seats next to me.</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">&nbsp;So my journey in Israel began with a rather low powered car that struggled with hills and a useless Sat Nav from Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv. The Sat Nav did not recognise the name Ibellin and nor did most of&nbsp;the people I asked for&nbsp;help on the way. A late night drive on the other side of the road, with all controls in opposite positions to what I was used to was pretty awful, but getting very lost indeed without a clue as to where I was, was so bad that I resorted to approaching an Israeli police car at some road works. One of the many God moments on my&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">travels. The policeman drove me in convoy to Ibellin with lights flashing and saved the day! A few days later that same police officer, off duty, stopped me in Nazareth to make sure I was OK!</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6CPya91RjDU/UyvyskyVzpI/AAAAAAAAPJM/PZTcUle2nnQ/s1600/DSC03411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6CPya91RjDU/UyvyskyVzpI/AAAAAAAAPJM/PZTcUle2nnQ/s1600/DSC03411.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">An English lesson for 14 year olds</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;">The Mar Elias&nbsp;guest-house&nbsp;is situated above the secondary<span style="line-height: 17.940000534057617px;">&nbsp;school. Ibellin is an amazing place; much larger than I expected, with steep hills that were challenging for all cars and almost impossible for mine.&nbsp;I never once found my way around Ibellin without getting lost. The campus has several schools, gym, church and other assorted buildings on it. The rest of the town has several churches and mosques where the Christian and Muslim community live side by side speaking Arabic. P</span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;">arts of it are very like Bethlehem.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hIJCiqUS_n4/UysgbxfMnzI/AAAAAAAAPGc/c9kmO0vd-7I/s1600/DSC02586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hIJCiqUS_n4/UysgbxfMnzI/AAAAAAAAPGc/c9kmO0vd-7I/s1600/DSC02586.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Michael (Mica) Chacour</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;">Although Elias Chacour was away for most of the time I was there, I was fortunate to have coffee with Michael Chacour, his nephew, early on in Abuna's home. He is quite a character and very different indeed to his uncle.&nbsp;In one photo you can see a bullet hole in the front door. Michael told me that they don't always feel safe and later on Abuna himself showed my how the bullet had hit&nbsp;metal&nbsp;and had therefore stopped it from doing any real damage.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCO2kK0oCWs/Uyvs6NS-uxI/AAAAAAAAPI0/2Jln4Um-zjc/s1600/DSC02594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCO2kK0oCWs/Uyvs6NS-uxI/AAAAAAAAPI0/2Jln4Um-zjc/s1600/DSC02594.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Elias Chacour's front door</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;">Staying at the&nbsp;guest house at&nbsp;the&nbsp;&nbsp;same time, was a German&nbsp;Roman Catholic group lead by a Priest who had been in his parish for 25 years, &nbsp;but was shortly to retire. This was his last Parish visit to the &nbsp;area. I was very fortunate that they offered to take &nbsp;me out with &nbsp;them and I accepted their offer on a couple of days.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2nffdZLAX8c/Uysg4TPtuII/AAAAAAAAPGs/HIIz7OBu7VQ/s1600/DSC02743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2nffdZLAX8c/Uysg4TPtuII/AAAAAAAAPGs/HIIz7OBu7VQ/s1600/DSC02743.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Church of the 12 Apostles</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp; On one of my days there I drove &nbsp; to the Sea of&nbsp;Galilee. It was&nbsp;a &nbsp; &nbsp; beautiful day and very calm. My &nbsp; favourite place was a church I &nbsp;have never been to before on the water's edge. It is Greek Orthodox and called the Church of the Twelve Apostl</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">es. The murals are stunning and I almost had it to myself as it seems to be off the usual tourist route. It was in a small national park, which was also beautiful. My Sat Nav refused to recognise either Arab towns, except for very large ones like Nazareth, or any Christian sites, which meant that I had to find a nearby Jewish settlement or site and get as close as possible to where I wanted to go! I ended up going wrong a great deal! Thankfully I had a really good map with me from a previous visit.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VrSJjIRWuM8/UywAF19NstI/AAAAAAAAPJ0/2qNCToQrwxI/s1600/DSC02742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VrSJjIRWuM8/UywAF19NstI/AAAAAAAAPJ0/2qNCToQrwxI/s1600/DSC02742.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Inside the church of the 12 Apostles.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yppz8RJPiMU/UyshOg6QcuI/AAAAAAAAPG0/rwazW7vWM_4/s1600/DSC02745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yppz8RJPiMU/UyshOg6QcuI/AAAAAAAAPG0/rwazW7vWM_4/s1600/DSC02745.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sea of Galilee</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">The following day I visited Nazareth.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">Nazareth is very much like old Jerusalem in places and I felt very at home. I first visited the Greek Orthodox church where they were having an Ash Wednesday service. It is a beautiful church so I was glad to be able to&nbsp;</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">listen and even to see the murals and the spring in an older part that feeds the well that Mary is&nbsp;reputed to have used.</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></div></div><div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" style="background-color: #fce5cd; display: inline; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aOefIkXiP8Y/Uyshqg5C9yI/AAAAAAAAPHA/uQZnFeKbo9Y/s1600/DSC02799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aOefIkXiP8Y/Uyshqg5C9yI/AAAAAAAAPHA/uQZnFeKbo9Y/s1600/DSC02799.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Greek Orthodox Church Nazareth</span>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RtA6Dg5f0zk/Uyvz-Z8dGvI/AAAAAAAAPJc/DcHPpbpXYx4/s1600/DSC02860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RtA6Dg5f0zk/Uyvz-Z8dGvI/AAAAAAAAPJc/DcHPpbpXYx4/s1600/DSC02860.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Inside the Basilica</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jJmzKKCzwfo/Uysh5MulaNI/AAAAAAAAPHQ/KJBB4lbkeE8/s1600/DSC02909.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I was also fortunate that the main Basilica in the town square below had lovely organ music playing. Chiefly, I was delighted to have a long conversation with the warden of the Anglican church and recorded some of it. He told me about the situation for local Christians and his hopes and fears.&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-jJmzKKCzwfo%2FUysh5MulaNI%2FAAAAAAAAPHQ%2FKJBB4lbkeE8%2Fs1600%2FDSC02909.JPG&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jJmzKKCzwfo/Uysh5MulaNI/AAAAAAAAPHQ/KJBB4lbkeE8/s1600/DSC02909.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Church warden of Anglican Church</span>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Giy5dZB52ek/UywAQKXLhaI/AAAAAAAAPJ8/zsvJq-_PnU0/s1600/DSC02915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Giy5dZB52ek/UywAQKXLhaI/AAAAAAAAPJ8/zsvJq-_PnU0/s1600/DSC02915.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Anglican Church Nazareth</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">Before coming back to Ibellin I managed to find, despite my Sat Nav and car, the church at Cana, of wedding fame, though I am told now that there are 2 contenders for the title.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.940000534057617px;"></span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br /></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FK5bJ_JlQSM/UywA0pJEObI/AAAAAAAAPKM/xyn-DekmgYo/s1600/DSC02989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FK5bJ_JlQSM/UywA0pJEObI/AAAAAAAAPKM/xyn-DekmgYo/s1600/DSC02989.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mica looking out over Safed</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The next day I was very pleased </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">to visit Safad and Bir'em as well as Rosh Hanikra on the border with Lebanon with the German group. Mica came with us and so I was very glad that the commentary was in English and not German, although it was efficiently translated for the others. Mica sadly found Safed very difficult as, what was once a thriving mixed community is now Jewish only with m</span></span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">any old Palestinian buildings either left empty and derelict or taken over by Jewish families. An old Mosque is now an art gallery while another has been built over. It was still a beautiful town, but now it has a terrible history.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_oJTp_Ub2Yo/UywB0WU7sAI/AAAAAAAAPKs/liR7jNFc0oE/s1600/DSC03081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_oJTp_Ub2Yo/UywB0WU7sAI/AAAAAAAAPKs/liR7jNFc0oE/s1600/DSC03081.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Mica at the door of Bir'em Church</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" style="display: inline; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hIduyxRIo8/UysiM8JMw5I/AAAAAAAAPHY/RFlF3IGhGhI/s1600/DSC03082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hIduyxRIo8/UysiM8JMw5I/AAAAAAAAPHY/RFlF3IGhGhI/s1600/DSC03082.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Inside Bir'em Church</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">Bir'em is the village where Elias Chacour lived as a child. It was a surprise in many ways because the cemetery and the church are still complete and in good condition and although all the houses are ruins, there is more to them than I had expected. The old villagers still return to bury their dead in the cemetery and now a couple of them stay in the village to protect what is left and to keep it alive as much as possible, but the area has been turned into a National Park and Israel refuses to allow them to return in a meaningful way. That is no doubt partly because of the ancient remains of 2 synagogues from Roman times that lie right next to the village. The village had existed there for 150 years in proximity to these ancient ruins, but now the Israeli tourist guides only refer to the Synagogues. Nothing else matters. After we had finished there and had lunch we arrived at the coast right on the border with Lebanon. You can see the actual border in the photo. It is a beautiful shoreline with interesting caves, but we arrived too late to visit them.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zMR5EmXw__U/UysigV-9djI/AAAAAAAAPHg/HPFmZBT8QoA/s1600/DSC03088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zMR5EmXw__U/UysigV-9djI/AAAAAAAAPHg/HPFmZBT8QoA/s1600/DSC03088.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The remains of Bir'em</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmYB-5WMw-I/Uyvu5kN2b9I/AAAAAAAAPJA/zDddRSQzeVA/s1600/DSC03110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZmYB-5WMw-I/Uyvu5kN2b9I/AAAAAAAAPJA/zDddRSQzeVA/s1600/DSC03110.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Lebanese Border</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I joined the German group again the next day for a visit to the Golan Heights, and the Tel Dan and Banias Nature Reserves. It was a day f</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">ull of mixed motions and incredible blessings. Much too much to share here, but we visited, nature reserves, archaeological sites dating back to Canaanite times, waterfalls, Paneas, otherwise know as Caesaria Philipi, both the Lebanese and Syrian borders, eaten the most amazing picnic cooked by our coach driver, att</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">ended a celebration at Ibillin with a lot of singing and cake with Micah Chacour and friends and finally met Elias Chacour who would give us a talk the next day and agreed to meet me as well! &nbsp;We did rather more walking than intended as we got a bit lost in at the Banias nature reserve after already having completed the 2 1/2 hour trail at the Tel Dan reserves in 1 1/2 hours, but on a beautiful day, it was wonderful exercise!.</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FycdHpDHp1Y/UywB8mZiKrI/AAAAAAAAPK0/bQ5foPVxIAA/s1600/DSC03161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FycdHpDHp1Y/UywB8mZiKrI/AAAAAAAAPK0/bQ5foPVxIAA/s1600/DSC03161.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Caananite Gate</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dblYLFbXSyU/UysiiOTolaI/AAAAAAAAPHo/W6FjBrXjB5g/s1600/DSC03399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dblYLFbXSyU/UysiiOTolaI/AAAAAAAAPHo/W6FjBrXjB5g/s1600/DSC03399.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Israeli leaflet</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I am interested to know of the views of others on this information found in the Israeli tourist leaflet for Tel Dan Nature Reserve? Usually killing is either instructed by God or is because the Jews were either afraid or f</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">ighting for their lives. But here it seems to clearly state that the Philistines were 'a people tranquil and unsuspecting', and they slaughtered them just because they did not get on with them! It seems to be a surprisingly honest statement.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">We then travelled further into the Golan heights very close to the border with Syria. It was a strange place to be and felt very quiet and 'peaceful' - very eerie.</span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-1E9EcU_YAJA%2FUysjCcfrz-I%2FAAAAAAAAPIE%2F7atqI-uMs4k%2Fs1600%2FDSC03355.JPG&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1E9EcU_YAJA/UysjCcfrz-I/AAAAAAAAPIE/7atqI-uMs4k/s1600/DSC03355.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A Syrian town in the distance</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3pzZj0SlGw/UywCZQH-drI/AAAAAAAAPLM/MmQlL7yGIKY/s1600/DSC03259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3pzZj0SlGw/UywCZQH-drI/AAAAAAAAPLM/MmQlL7yGIKY/s1600/DSC03259.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Picnic at Caesaria Philipi</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">After a morning talk by Elias Chacour, I finally had a private meeting with him on the afternoon of Saturday 8th March. &nbsp;I have two recorded messages &nbsp;from him. One is about Islam and &nbsp;the relationship&nbsp;between&nbsp;Islam &nbsp;and Christianity in the Holy Land, which I include here. the second &nbsp;is a personal message to St John's which I will share when I do a presentation on June 3rd.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I arrived safely in Jerusalem despite the Sat Nav and it was a relief to hand the car back. Having had a glorious week it began to rain and steadily got colder. Little did I know what was in store!</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br /><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vE0MXNCI21w/UyslaAhspdI/AAAAAAAAPIQ/P5_Mulebi_s/s1600/00006.MTS" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vE0MXNCI21w/UyslaAhspdI/AAAAAAAAPIQ/P5_Mulebi_s/s1600/00006.MTS" height="111" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Elias Chacour gives his views on Islam</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">&nbsp;in&nbsp;&nbsp;the Holy Land</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vg8xbxNxGog/Uyvy06tGDXI/AAAAAAAAPJU/6-jCSmrku4o/s1600/DSC03381.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vg8xbxNxGog/Uyvy06tGDXI/AAAAAAAAPJU/6-jCSmrku4o/s1600/DSC03381.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Entertainment, food, company and fun</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">at the Ibellin Guesthouse</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">On my first day in Jerusalem I went to visit a member of Combatants For Peace in West Jerusalem. It is an Israeli human rights organisation for Israelis and Palestinians who have put down their arms and want to take the road of non violence towards a just peace. I am honoured to be helping to set up the UK part of this organisation, but&nbsp;that&nbsp;is another story.</span></span></div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #333333; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1E9EcU_YAJA/UysjCcfrz-I/AAAAAAAAPIE/7atqI-uMs4k/s1600/DSC03355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br /></div></div><div><div></div></div></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-82050533598968789472014-03-22T10:47:00.000-07:002014-03-28T08:42:24.419-07:00Palestine March 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_5328039c3582b2560154680" style="display: inline;"><h2 style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: left;"></h2></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3f8zgB2cauM/UyyQloG007I/AAAAAAAAPLs/c22224qnC34/s1600/DSC03493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #ffe599; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3f8zgB2cauM/UyyQloG007I/AAAAAAAAPLs/c22224qnC34/s1600/DSC03493.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nawal looking very fed up in her shop</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KBDC4YXlcZc/UyyQiz88nkI/AAAAAAAAPLk/Z1c0hCuv2Cw/s1600/DSC03487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KBDC4YXlcZc/UyyQiz88nkI/AAAAAAAAPLk/Z1c0hCuv2Cw/s1600/DSC03487.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A neighbour's shop not so well&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">cleaned up</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">I had a very sad meeting with Nawal at her shop in the Old City of Hebron. Leila, her sister, who I have got to know well over the years, is very ill, and on Sunday night the old City was flooded very badly. They discovered it at 6am on the</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;Monday when they found dirty water a metre high in the shop and much of their stock ruined. In the past few months because there has been so little rain, Israel has reduced the amount of water available in Palestinian areas and so the PA have had to ration it. There was therefore no clean water available to clear up the mess. CPT, EAPPI and others came to help and thankfully the PA did allow water for a while. They are expecting floods again on Thursday night. The drains and sewers in the Old City, which is under Israeli control, badly need repairs and Israel refuses to allow this.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">So while the farmers are thankful for the rain the Old City fears it.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I could see the damage to theirs and other shops and you can get some sort of impression from the photos. The sadness was palpable and like everyone else I have met in both Israel and Palestine on this trip, they say as one, that they have no hope and that the so-called peace talks are making things worse for them.</span></span><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">A good rhetorical question they ask is, if Israel says it is willing to make land swaps and evacuate some settlements, why is it spending so much money building more of them on stolen land?&nbsp;</span></span><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">In all my time here I have never felt so much despair.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DL9eh3_N2wk/UyyRPhHX7kI/AAAAAAAAPME/EbGQbPG56wA/s1600/DSC03503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DL9eh3_N2wk/UyyRPhHX7kI/AAAAAAAAPME/EbGQbPG56wA/s1600/DSC03503.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You can see the Rajabi building in the </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">distance</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yJcLYWhTaZo/UyyRN6r6wNI/AAAAAAAAPL8/6nGj2lGTA7I/s1600/DSC03505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yJcLYWhTaZo/UyyRN6r6wNI/AAAAAAAAPL8/6nGj2lGTA7I/s1600/DSC03505.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">That is not just water flowing down </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the steps!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: #fce5cd; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">After my very brief visit to the old City I had a lovely lunch with my friend Naheel who works for the UN before going to the UNOCHA offices where I met with Hamed. While with him I kept on hearing more and more sad news about the success of the settlers in the courts over a large Palestinian house, The Rajabi building, which has been in dispute for along time. The fear is not just the loss of the house, but the celebrations that will bring misery to the local Palestinians.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #37404e;">This is a house in the middle of a Palestinian area that has been acquired in a very underhand way by local Israeli settlers, who it seems have won their case in the Israeli courts to take ownership of the building. The case has been going on since 2007. It is a very strategic building for the setters and there is one more hurdle for them before they can actually move in. If they do so, the humanitarian impact it will have on the locals will be very great indeed and these people are already suffering at the hands of the large settlement of Kiryat Arber. Last night I watched torrential sewage flow down into Hebron from that settlement adding to the flooding misery below. You can see it pouring down the steps.</span></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;"><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span class="userContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Israel always goes on about their security, yet no one seems to care a jot about the security of the Palestinians who live here by right and have never hurt anyone. &nbsp;There are also reports of 5 Palestinian deaths just today. 3 in Gaza and 2 in the West Bank, not to mention the Jordanian judge who was shot at the checkpoint coming in from Jordan. Whatever you may read, there were witnesses and the truth is that the Judge told the IDF off for the way they were treating the Palestinians so they just shot him 3 times and then said he had tried to grab their weapons!</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QzUGeajhy5Y/UyyQmU72N4I/AAAAAAAAPLw/RMJkdEYaqoA/s1600/DSC03536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QzUGeajhy5Y/UyyQmU72N4I/AAAAAAAAPLw/RMJkdEYaqoA/s1600/DSC03536.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Rabbi Ascherman and others climbing</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">down to the cave</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9qYWwOqhws/UyyRTOvl8jI/AAAAAAAAPMM/6LLSk84mabY/s1600/DSC03538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9qYWwOqhws/UyyRTOvl8jI/AAAAAAAAPMM/6LLSk84mabY/s1600/DSC03538.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The cave dwelling in Beir il Id where</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the meeting was held</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">The following afternoon I finally met Rabbi Erik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights. He is someone I greatly admire. Hamed toured around picking up leaders from the South Hebron Hills communities of Susyia and Um Al Kher, having first picked up an ex-inhabitant of Beir il id to attend a meeting at Beir il id. We met Rabbi Ascherman and Quaman, </span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">the head of their legal department, to discuss the terrible situation that Beir il id faces.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-937nMJeGSNA/UyyRsYej69I/AAAAAAAAPMU/MMCCoVWBcDI/s1600/DSC03539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-937nMJeGSNA/UyyRsYej69I/AAAAAAAAPMU/MMCCoVWBcDI/s1600/DSC03539.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">The man,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Ismail Ibrahim al-Adara,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;Hamed first picked up had been beaten up badly by the settlers and on return to the village his son was murdered by them as well, though it is a longer story. He does not want to go back to the village for fear for his own life. However, the village is in a very strategic area and it is essential that villagers continue to live there. One way might be to persuade villagers from Jimbe to move there, but it would mean supplying fodder for their sheep at a cost of 90,000 shekels a year. The local settlers are trying to obliterate Palestinians from the area, as they have already done with the road signs and they want to join the various settlements up. Many settlers are paid by Israel to live in the area, so to help the indigenous Palestinians in this way is a small thing except that there is no money to do it.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /> <span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Hamed had also taken me to a very interesting meeting in Hebron in the morning. It was at HRC in Hebron and was a multi agency meeting that was instigated by the&nbsp;Christian Peacemaker&nbsp;Team,&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;because of the recent school invasions, detention of chil</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">dren, teacher and other staff, and even tear gas and stun grenades thrown into schools by the IDF for no obvious reason, if there ever can be a reason for such behaviour. On one occasion a cleaner was abducted and just abandoned in the Negev to try to find his way back. Even head teachers have been detained for short periods. Children are frequently detained and some arrested and this is happening in regard to many schools and not just those whose pupils and teachers have to use checkpoints 209 and 29, which were of particular concern to CPT. We were told that children from Cordoba School suffer from nightmares and bed wetting because of the stress. The purpose of the meeting was to look at ways of dealing with all the issues. There were people from the Ministry of Education, DCOs from the Palestinian army, a lawyer, Betselem, EAPPI, CPT, ISM, TIPH and others. It was a useful meeting and there seems to be a united effort towards rights information for pupils and parents as well as contacts for the various organisations to ring when events occur. The fact that these are basic human rights violations were not something that could be addressed realistically.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3xiLOtDC9Lw/Uy09Ts8GhGI/AAAAAAAAPN0/fXoD230ozO0/s1600/DSC03544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3xiLOtDC9Lw/Uy09Ts8GhGI/AAAAAAAAPN0/fXoD230ozO0/s1600/DSC03544.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Bob Roberts</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">That night in Hebron was as cold and windy as I had every experienced it. There was torrential rain, thunder and lightening directly overhead and the high winds made doors bang and windows rattle all night! I sleep better when it is cold, but this was extreme and I spent both night wearing my coat and a fe other things! The following morning I left Hebron early to go to Bethlehem where I attended one day of the Christ at the Checkpoint conference. I did not arrive in a very good mood, but only a short while into the first speaker I heard, I was glad to be there. Bob Roberts of North Wood Church, Dallas said that he had been invited to preach in mosques after Muslims had visited his church. He said he believed in a totally inclusive Christ and that many Christians are too obsessed with speculative theology. I don't think I would have enjoyed a full 5 days of it and was worried it would be too evangelical for me, but it was about the sort of inclusive Christianity that I believe in and antidote to those in a God who loves only His chosen and condemns the rest of his creation to abuse and even annihilation! Far too many Christians and Jews seem to have created a god in their own egotistical image and forgotten the foundation of peace and justice that all 3 Abrahamic religions are based on.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsio59MDUjk/UyyR1YqLRDI/AAAAAAAAPMc/vEu7Cbyr0kQ/s1600/DSC03562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsio59MDUjk/UyyR1YqLRDI/AAAAAAAAPMc/vEu7Cbyr0kQ/s1600/DSC03562.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Andrew addressing the gathering</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #37404e; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">In the evening a very enjoyable 50th Birthday party was given by Andrew Ashdown in Beit Sahour. Delicious food and great company.&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qT-6eOTvr3I/UyyR3MlJ4OI/AAAAAAAAPMg/WqdN1ygCeuM/s1600/DSC03571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qT-6eOTvr3I/UyyR3MlJ4OI/AAAAAAAAPMg/WqdN1ygCeuM/s1600/DSC03571.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Some of the American Jewish 'Encounter'</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">group listening to Hamed's talk</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">It was also wonderful to have Andrew's company with Hamid from rather too early the following morning for a remarkable meeting</span><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;with a group of American Jews who were on an 'encounter visit' to the West Bank. Their party also included some local Jewish settlers.&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yvVs-m9cyY0/UyySUZhZEfI/AAAAAAAAPM0/mijvxQy_9Mw/s1600/DSC03584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yvVs-m9cyY0/UyySUZhZEfI/AAAAAAAAPM0/mijvxQy_9Mw/s1600/DSC03584.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Hamed and the head of the village</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">After a presentation by Hamed we visited a small village south of Bethlehem, surrounded by illegal Israeli s</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;">ettlements.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: #fce5cd; display: inline; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">Since 1948 the village has been refused any building permits or infrastructure improvements by the Israeli government, who have civil responsibility for the village.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIFBdyzwAWM/UyySb5d36xI/AAAAAAAAPM8/VQj7DKYVlh8/s1600/DSC03591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIFBdyzwAWM/UyySb5d36xI/AAAAAAAAPM8/VQj7DKYVlh8/s1600/DSC03591.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The all-purpose village school</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">with demolition order on it</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;">We had a moving speech from the Village Council leader in the small, poorly equipped all-purpose building that the village has built themselves without permission to act as a school, clinic, and meeting place. This building has now received a demolition order. Meanwhile, on the hill overlooking the village in the illegal settlement, you can see the 3-storey new school that has been built for the settlement along with all other modern facilities. When the village children ask why they cant have a nice school like those on the hills around them, their father does not know what to tell them. It was fascinating to see the reactions of the group, most of whom were clearly moved, and who asked some very good questions.</span><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;Hamed explained the situation so well to the group and in answer to questions, that I was able to learn a great deal from being part of this gathering..</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Es0GdM0iEhU/UyySyPRpQHI/AAAAAAAAPNM/fEwcmjZ8sFg/s1600/DSC03615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Es0GdM0iEhU/UyySyPRpQHI/AAAAAAAAPNM/fEwcmjZ8sFg/s1600/DSC03615.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is what the entrance to the Gilo</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">checkpoint looks like when empty</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I returned to Jerusalem via the Bethlehem Gilo checkpoint that afternoon. Even as an International I find that checkpoint intimidating. There are so many long wire tunnels, and different turnstiles and checks to go through even when it is&nbsp;empty. When full of Palestinians desperate&nbsp;to get to work in&nbsp;Jerusalem,&nbsp;who queue from the early hours every morning, it is inhumane.&nbsp;</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjouJXel5dI/Uy09IiZMp6I/AAAAAAAAPNs/7Rm3DY2dezc/s1600/DSC03616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YjouJXel5dI/Uy09IiZMp6I/AAAAAAAAPNs/7Rm3DY2dezc/s1600/DSC03616.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is what it looks like when safely</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">through to the other side.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I was thankful to arrive safely back at the very comfortable Austrian Hospice. When I stayed there a few days before, I had been given a room on the ground floor without a view. This time I had an amazing balcony on the second floor! Last time I was woken at 4.30 am with a beautiful call to prayer. This time the same speakers were on a level with my window - perhaps a little too close for comfort, but I certainly didn't complain. The&nbsp;view&nbsp;from my room was a real tonic.</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;All I needed for my last day was a little sunshine and warmth.&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UEKRCzJ9s6U/UyySt7hrDqI/AAAAAAAAPNE/kYRs8WUGu1U/s1600/DSC03636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UEKRCzJ9s6U/UyySt7hrDqI/AAAAAAAAPNE/kYRs8WUGu1U/s1600/DSC03636.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">My wonderful balcony view in</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Jerusaelm</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #37404e; line-height: 18px;">On my last full day in Palestine I had a lovely time in Nablus with my friend, Manar. It hds been ages since I had seen her in Hebron she is now married with 2 children, but still working for the UN. I was treated to a wonderful Palestinian speciality desert, which was delicious, the old c</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #37404e; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">ity market and a huge and delicious lunch. It was so nice to meet her children and husband as well as see the apartment in which they all live.</span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5mQnjIShwWA/Uy0845atN1I/AAAAAAAAPNk/9l8lNzDvIJI/s1600/DSC03683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5mQnjIShwWA/Uy0845atN1I/AAAAAAAAPNk/9l8lNzDvIJI/s1600/DSC03683.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Manar and Palestinian feast for two!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_53280393ef91b1a32348045" style="display: inline; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">I had thought the 2 hour plus journey from Jerusalem by bus via Ramalla had taken a long time, but the return journey was much worse, because of the checkpoints, particularly the entry to Jerusalem. The traffic was almost at a standstill and all Palestinians under 45 have to automatically leave the bus and go through on foot. Not only did some of them not return to our bus, but the IDF came onto it asking questions of us all and thankfully they accepted my explanation, but 2 German tourists were not so lucky and were removed from the bus. We continued with only half the passengers. After a relaxing day, it was a final reminder of what the occupation means to every Palestinian and anyone else who dares to visit the West Bank!</span></div></div><div><div class="_wk _5rny attachmentUnit" style="border-left-color: rgb(211, 215, 220); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 2px; margin: 0px 0px 12px -9px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 7px; text-align: left;"><div class="userContentWrapper" style="color: #898f9c; line-height: 18px;"><div class="aboveUnitContent" style="color: #37404e; line-height: 14.079999923706055px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px;"><div class="userContentWrapper"><div class="_wk" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"></span><br /><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" style="display: inline;"></div><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div><div class="_wk" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" style="display: inline;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">&nbsp;<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wz6z3DMMIUQ/Uy08rDSW7GI/AAAAAAAAPNc/-Tekz4YALP4/s1600/DSC03700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #37404e;">My final reflections on my time here:</span></a><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-wz6z3DMMIUQ%2FUy08rDSW7GI%2FAAAAAAAAPNc%2F-Tekz4YALP4%2Fs1600%2FDSC03700.JPG&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wz6z3DMMIUQ/Uy08rDSW7GI/AAAAAAAAPNc/-Tekz4YALP4/s1600/DSC03700.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ernst, the Austrian monk</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="userContent">I am sitting in glorious warm sunshine at last, just before I make my way to the airport!</span><br /><span class="userContent">Even my bus travel and breakfasts here have led to some wonderful encounters including Ernst, an Austrian monk, who was so interested in everything I have done during my time here. Sadly he is not on the internet, but it was odd how, over the few days I got to know him, we developed a bond and he was always e<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">ager to come and listen to me as I was to share with him. We must have looked a very odd couple! I have made several new internet and Facebook friends among Palestinians, Israelis, Germans and Americans. I am sitting in the garden of the Austrian Hospice now listening to church bells pealing and birds singing. The Jews celebrate Purim today and this evening will have big parties and dress up in fancy dress and make merry. It is so sad that their revelry will mean more unpleasantness for many Palestinians forced to share space with those who want to make life so unbearable for them that they leave.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I think that the words I like best about any religion is that, 'if your religion does not help you to love your fellow human beings, no matter what culture they belong to and no matter what they believe, then you should look again at your beliefs'. Every religion begins at heart with love and justice and both are so lacking here. Though that is certainly not the rule, I have heard words of love, acceptance, and forgiveness from many Palestinians, both Muslim and Christian and some of the Israel Jews I have met. Thankfully I have also witnessed the shock of a party of American Jews who were taken on a field trip by Hamed. I have felt so looked after and blest while I have been here and have surprised people, both Palestinians and Jews, at the way things have just worked out and help has appeared from unexpected places. In fact when I remember the Israeli off-duty police officer who stopped to ask if I was OK in Nazareth, after helping me to find Ibellin, on duty, a few days before, and the complete stranger, a Palestinian who got in my car to show me the way, or the car lifts that materialised from Andrew&nbsp;&nbsp;when I really was not expecting it I feel quite emotional.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I don't think I have heard so many people here express despair at the situation in the past. The only ones to express hope have been those who hope through Christ or Allah, not because of anything hopeful actually happening here, but because hope is essential. For many here that is all they have to live by.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br /></span></span><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">It is almost time to somehow get, my rather overweight suitcase up out of the Damascus gate to the transport. I am glad to be coming home, because it has been very intense, difficult and lonely at times, but hugely worthwhile and I have to believe that it will somehow make a difference, though in what way I have no idea.</span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-13854120891901092722013-03-22T08:24:00.003-07:002013-03-22T09:38:53.739-07:00"We refuse to be enemies"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bElpNZubRyI/UT-DVtL4RgI/AAAAAAAAMkE/sh1KOKuStGc/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bElpNZubRyI/UT-DVtL4RgI/AAAAAAAAMkE/sh1KOKuStGc/s400/photo.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>At the risk of repeating myself I decided to publish this post that was half finished in Palestine because it has additional information.<br /><br />Despite having been to many of the places we have visited on this CPT delegation in the past, I have found myself deeply shocked on a number of occasions. I have done many presentations about the situation in the West Bank. I knew that the Israeli settlers could be vicious and that the IDF could be violent, cruel and abusive, but I had not realised before how planned &nbsp;the occupation and systematic reduction in Palestinian land was. &nbsp;If you look at the map that was given to us by ARIJ you will see that there are what are called seam zones and corridors where most of the Israeli settlements and even outposts are located. You can see that the Palestinian areas are reduced to ghettos that are totally separated from each other by not just the settlements but by the Israeli only roads and, of course, the separation barrier which itself takes up around 13% of West Bank land. What is worse is that there are Palestinian communities that are being cut off by Israel into a sort of no-man's land. These communities are denied both Israeli or Palestinian citizenship because although they are cut off from Israel by the barrier Israel will not allow them to be taken under the PA wing either. Some of these communities have the barrier almost completely surrounding them with no access to any amenities or resources.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Many of the stories we have heard have been heartbreaking and most of them have been backed up with facts and figures from the many organisations we have had the privilege to visit. I include in this blog a list of links so that you can see the information for yourselves. In Jerusalem we visited the Sabeel Office where we heard a Palestinian Christian tell us of her experiences. We went to the office of ICHAD - The Israeli Committee against House Demolitions where we heard from Israelis who shared the facts and figures of the Israeli demographic policies that refuse both Israeli Palestinians and West Bank Palestinians permits for almost anything from house extensions to water cisterns to animal sheds and even to working on their own land so that Palestinians have to do almost everything 'illegally' and Israel can claim legal reasons for their actions.<br /><br />We have seen the workings of such policies in the Negev, East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, The Tent of Nations, Jericho, Hebron and The South Hebron Hills. I have personal stories and even videos to back this up as well as so many photos.<br /><br />In Hebron we heard from a Palestinian called Atta Jabber. &nbsp;Atta lived with his parents, but when he got married, wanted a home of his own. There were 60 houses in the area, with around 144 people living in them. An Israeli settlement had already been built and the Israeli authorities wanted the land in his neighbourhood to build more. The families started to receive demolition orders on their houses and in 1995 the Israel High Court decided to bulldoze all 60 houses in one day! This was just the start of a nightmare that is still going on today.<br /><br />The very first round of action won the Jabber family a reprieve, but in 1996 he received a new demolition order with just 48 days to appeal and their lawyer was not informed. When Atta continued to work on his home he was arrested for doing so and was fined $500. In 1997, while he was away from his home the Israeli army forced his wife and 2 daughters out of their house into the winter cold and rain and then damaged everything surrounding it. His wife and daughters fell ill and had to spend a couple of nights in hospital. That March the family received another order giving them just 2 hours to move all their belongings from the house - again into the rain. They did so and the bulldozer did not arrive.<br /><br />In 1998 the army came again with bulldozers and threatened his family so he removed them himself and watched his home destroyed. He immediately rebuilt it with the help of internationals and CPT. An organisation called Peace Now arranged for Atta to meet the Knesset to request a permit for this second house and they refused. On 19th Sept that year bulldozers came again with many soldiers. When the family were out of the house, his wife remembered their 4 month old baby was still inside and went to get him. Atta in despair told an officer to take his baby and care for him as they could not do so himself without a home. He was arrested and beaten up, taken to a police station where he was tortured. The handcuffs held his wrists behind him so tightly there was blood, his neck was cut badly so that he could hardly speak and he had wounds all over his body. He was taken to a clinic where the doctor said there was nothing wrong with him and was then accused of being dangerous because he had tried to defend his home. He was moved to a prison where he received no medical attention for 8 days and became so ill that he was in danger of dying. When he was finally taken to hospital he spent 4 hours in the emergency room and was then released the next day. However he was then charged for attacking the army with his baby!<br /><br />Rabbis for Human Rights came to court with the baby and presented the child to the Judge who was so moved by it all that she released him without charge! Atta and his family then spent the next 5&nbsp;months living&nbsp;in a tent and finally moved into the Old City of Hebron in 1999. In 2000 Atta finally gained a permit for his house. As it was near completion around 100 Israeli settlers attacked him and occupied it. He took them to the Israeli court who instructed them to leave, so they set the house on fire causing considerable damage. The settlers were not punished and the courts refused to allow Atta to return to his home for a further 3 months. A member of CPT then stayed in his home with his family to protect them until he could return.<br /><br />200 settlers then took the land surrounding his home and attacked his wife who was pregnant. She lsst her baby as a&nbsp;result&nbsp;of the attack. In fact she lost 4 babies over the years as a result of attacks. In 2009 Atta received an Israeli order to demolish everything surrounding his home forcing his family to live in just the house and a very&nbsp;small&nbsp;area, so he took the case to yet court again. In 2011 it cost&nbsp;another&nbsp;$15 - 20,000 in legal fees.<br /><br />Despite winning case after&nbsp;expensive&nbsp;case, the settlers have continued to&nbsp;harass&nbsp;his family and so it goes on to this day. One constant battle and the loss of most of his land.<br /><br />"If we were animals an organsation would step in and rescue us, but because we are just Palestinians no one comes to our aid." he said.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4FAYNClwNY/UUyIJsSeb_I/AAAAAAAANvw/cBPrsuA0hb0/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4FAYNClwNY/UUyIJsSeb_I/AAAAAAAANvw/cBPrsuA0hb0/s320/photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stone that lies at the entrance to the Tent of nations, which says in 3 languages<br /><b>"WE REFUSE TO BE ENEMIES"</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-15402554750504059562013-03-20T08:39:00.000-07:002013-03-25T01:17:32.811-07:00Itinerary, Organisations and links<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">During the delegation with the Christian&nbsp;Peacemaker&nbsp;Team we visited and heard from a number of organisations. I also met others on days when I was not actually on the delegation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00Iwp5nFJZM/UUxtfEjz7tI/AAAAAAAANvY/yJIRLj_F1s4/s1600/2013-03-22" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00Iwp5nFJZM/UUxtfEjz7tI/AAAAAAAANvY/yJIRLj_F1s4/s200/2013-03-22" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">There are many other groups who also do valuable work, but in order to keep this information more accessible I have limited this list to those I actually met or who are mentioned in my blog.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">I was travelling to Jerusalem to meet the CPT delegation that I would be journeying with for the following 2 weeks so the first organisation to mention is:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>CPT -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cpt.org/">www.cpt.org</a>.</b>&nbsp;Christian Peacemaker Teams. Ecumenical violence-reduction project started by the Mennonites, Brethren and&nbsp;Quakers&nbsp;with a presence in Hebron since 1995. Practises get-in-the-way of nonviolence. Also has teams in other parts of the world.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 1</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">After arriving at the Golden Gate Hostel my first day in Jerusalem was free. Although some of my plans did not&nbsp;materialise I visited the Jerusalem office of EAPPI and climbed the&nbsp;Mount&nbsp;of Olives&nbsp;<b><span style="color: purple;">(See beauty, truth and good Wine)</span></b> and met Pauline Nunu, owner of The Jerusalem&nbsp;Hotel (see details below), which has become a centre for the press, human rights workers and Alternative Travel. In the evening I went to see 'The Gatekeepers' at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>The Golden Gate Hostel -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.goldengate4.com/">http://www.goldengate4.com/</a>&nbsp; </b>A very good, clean hostel with both single rooms and&nbsp;dormitories&nbsp;situated&nbsp;in the Old City close to the Damascus Gate. A very good budget place to stay.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>EAPPI -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.eappi.org/">http://www.eappi.org/</a>&nbsp; Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="color: #331807; line-height: 17.984375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</b><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">brings internationals to the West Bank to experience life under occupation. Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs)&nbsp;provide protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitor and report human rights abuses and support Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace. When they return home, EAs campaign for a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through an end to the occupation, respect for international law and implementation of UN resolutions.</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">I was an EA from October 2009 to Jan 2010 and was&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">a member</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;">&nbsp;of an international team in Hebron during that time.</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Gatekeepers at the Jerusalem Cinematheque -&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://www.jer-cin.org.il/">http://www.jer-cin.org.il</a></span></b><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;'</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Charged with overseeing Israel's war on terror- both Palestinian and Jewish- the head of Israel's secret service is present at the crossroad of every decision made. For the first time ever, six former heads of the agency agreed to share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions.</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;</span><em style="border: none; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Gatekeepers</em><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">offers an exclusive account of the reasons that each man individually and the six as a group came to reconsider their hard-line positions and advocate a conciliatory approach toward their enemies based on a two-state solution.</span></span></span><br /><div style="border: none; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px 0px 0.6em; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">Nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Documentary and well-worth seeing.</span></div></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cb6VTDUd_sw/UTdWsT-qXRI/AAAAAAAALSQ/Bk7bkCG_wdo/s320/P1160685.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Beautiful view of the&nbsp;monastery and&nbsp;vineyard</span></td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 2</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Visit to Cremisan Vineyard -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cremisan.org/">http://www.cremisan.org/</a>&nbsp;</b>now under threat of being divided in two by the Israeli&nbsp;separation&nbsp;barrier with the&nbsp;Monastery and vineyard on the Israeli side and the Convent and school on the Palestinian side.</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: purple;"><b>(See Posting 'Beauty, truth and Good Wine')</b></span><br /><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 3</b></h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-76NzqP8L7Fc/UTjAWgJC42I/AAAAAAAANwA/lOiAwFoQBNM/s200/P1160720.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Our&nbsp;delegation&nbsp;leader Bob with Naim Atteek</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">This was the first official day of the delegation. As well as getting to know each other and look at the itinerary we visited the Jerusalem Sabeel Office and were taken on a tour of East&nbsp;Jerusalem&nbsp;by ICHAD.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-76NzqP8L7Fc/UTjAWgJC42I/AAAAAAAANwA/lOiAwFoQBNM/s1600/P1160720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Sabeel - <a href="http://www.sabeel.org/">www.sabeel.org</a></b>&nbsp; 'Sabeel' means 'The Way' in Arabic. &nbsp;'Ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian&nbsp;Christians'.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: purple;"><b>(See posting 'What does it mean to hope?')</b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u-BC0BcYeI0/UTjFQ0tbrbI/AAAAAAAANwE/NoIWyyIvWpo/s200/P1160754.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="145" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Ruth from ICAHD showing us maps as we </span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">stand&nbsp;by the&nbsp;separation&nbsp;barrier that blocks </span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">the road to&nbsp;Jericho&nbsp;in the heart of East</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">&nbsp;Jerusalem.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>ICHAD - <a href="http://www.icahd.org/">www.icahd.org</a></b>&nbsp; Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (Jeff Halper). A direct action group that co-ordinates with Palestinian groups. It leads tours around areas of concern, especially in regard to house&nbsp;demolitions, evictions&nbsp;and land confiscation.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 4</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We stood with the women in Black at their weekly Friday vigil and attended a&nbsp;demonstration&nbsp;at Sheikh Jarrah.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wiYtMi4kwpM/UToN0kzmA0I/AAAAAAAALdI/6RVqGpBvuSE/s1600/P1160798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wiYtMi4kwpM/UToN0kzmA0I/AAAAAAAALdI/6RVqGpBvuSE/s200/P1160798.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Women in Black -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.womeninblack.org/en/jerusalem">http://www.womeninblack.org/en/jerusalem</a></b>&nbsp; These women, and some men, hold a weekly Friday silent vigil on a roundabout in West&nbsp;Jerusalem. They hold&nbsp;placards&nbsp;in Hebrew and English saying 'Stop the Occupation'. They are often verbally abused by passing pedestrians and cars.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: purple;"><b>(See posting '"He has buried his head in shit"')</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Or7rSCKFyY/UToScVuh9rI/AAAAAAAALhQ/eD_zAJMevY4/s1600/P1160841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Or7rSCKFyY/UToScVuh9rI/AAAAAAAALhQ/eD_zAJMevY4/s200/P1160841.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.en.justjlm.org/">http://www.en.justjlm.org/</a>&nbsp;'</b><span style="color: #1e1b1a; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.25;">The Solidarity Movement, which has grown from weekly protests in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, is a grassroots organization working towards civil equality within Israel and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.' &nbsp;Sheikh Jarrah is in East Jerusalem where Israeli Jews are claiming that the neighbourhood was originally&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #1e1b1a;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Jewish</span></span><span style="color: #1e1b1a;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.25;">&nbsp;and are systematically ejecting Palestinians from their homes. The irony is that these Palestinians are refugees from 1948 Israel and Israeli&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">Jews</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.25;">&nbsp;are living in their old homes. While the Israelis claim the right to return to their old&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">properties</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.25;">, Palestinians have no right to return to their old properties!</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b style="color: purple;">(See posting '"He has buried his head in shit"')</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1e1b1a;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 1.25;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 5</b></span></span></span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hZIWPRyewvc/UTuM242KF5I/AAAAAAAALtk/OeggFGfHodY/s1600/P1160956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hZIWPRyewvc/UTuM242KF5I/AAAAAAAALtk/OeggFGfHodY/s200/P1160956.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We&nbsp;travelled&nbsp;to the Negev where we were taken to&nbsp;Bedouin villages under threat.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Negev Coexistence Forum For Civil Equality -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dukium.org/">www.dukium.org</a></b>&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">NCF considers that the State of Israel fails to respect, protect and fulfill its human rights obligations, without discrimination, towards the Arab-Bedouin citizens in the Negev. As a result, the Forum has set out as one of its goals to achieve full civil rights and equality for all those living Negev.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: purple; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">(See posting 'When B</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;">ureaucracy</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;is a Weapon of war')</span></span></b></span></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 6</b></h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hx0SAg2JS2g/UUzb14nBXrI/AAAAAAAANyA/4Woxp4pds0Y/s320/P1170115.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">This water duct in the&nbsp;Jordan&nbsp;valley&nbsp;supplies water usually only after the winter rains. Much of the year it is dry. It is damaged and&nbsp;needs urgent repair , yet Israel denies the&nbsp;Palestinian&nbsp;community living there the&nbsp;planning permission to repair it. If they touch it they risk arrest or worse. You can see that the water is splashing out of the duct and is undermining the structure further.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hx0SAg2JS2g/UUzb14nBXrI/AAAAAAAANyA/4Woxp4pds0Y/s1600/P1170115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We&nbsp;travelled&nbsp;down to to the&nbsp;Jordan&nbsp;valley via&nbsp;Jericho&nbsp;and the Dead sea. The river Jordan is only a trickle in places as is full of effluent from the nearby settlements. <b>Can I really blame&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;for that?</b> When Palestinian communities are denied planning permission for improvements or even repairs to infrastructure on their own land, while the illegal settlements have all&nbsp;amenities&nbsp;supplied, but still pollute the water, then, yes, I can blame Israel. We also saw water systems that supply Palestinians villages that Israel does not permit the Palestinians to repair.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jgx1F8wiCh0/UUze2hOHLKI/AAAAAAAAN1g/ZYc2Y9kXIK4/s200/P1170148.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">This shows one of the springs that flows<br />into the Jordan river.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="color: #353535; line-height: 20.390625px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;"><b style="color: black; line-height: normal;">Auja Eco Centre -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foeme.org/">www.foeme.org</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aujaecocenter.org/">http://www.aujaecocenter.org/</a></b><span style="color: black; line-height: 16px;">&nbsp; '</span><span style="color: #353535;">We envision the Jordan River Valley and the Dead Sea as a healthy ecosystem – one in which the water is shared in a just and equitable way between the people who live in the valley; in which the aquifers, rivers, and springs that support all life here are used in a sustainable manner; in which the cultural heritage is protected; in which biodiversity thrives; and in which human communities flourish.</span></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">We contribute towards this by inspiring and educating people about the history and value of this landscape; by promoting a vision of the valley a whole and interconnected system of ecology and human culture; by generating income and employment for local people; and by advocating for the rehabilitation of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.'</span></div><h3 style="color: #353535; line-height: 20.390625px; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 7</b></h3><div style="color: #353535; line-height: 20.390625px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We had very comfortable accommodation in the&nbsp;Bethlehem&nbsp;Bible&nbsp;College and then went on to visit 3 organisations situated in&nbsp;Bethlehem</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Bethlehem Bible College - h<a href="ttp://www.bethbc.org/">ttp://www.bethbc.org/</a>&nbsp; </b>A<b>&nbsp;</b>very good place to stay.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0X4LO5NR9_0/UT4KfabhWLI/AAAAAAAAL94/jnPShW4IoB0/s1600/P1170196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0X4LO5NR9_0/UT4KfabhWLI/AAAAAAAAL94/jnPShW4IoB0/s1600/P1170196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0X4LO5NR9_0/UT4KfabhWLI/AAAAAAAAL94/jnPShW4IoB0/s200/P1170196.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Sami Award who spoke to our<br />group.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><br /></b><b>Holy Land Trust - <a href="http://www.holylandtrust.org/">www.holylandtrust.org</a></b>&nbsp; &nbsp;<span style="font-family: inherit;">'</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">Nonviolence is at the heart of Holy Land Trust's work and is incorporated into everything we do and strive for. We seek to live out nonviolence as a core spiritual teaching, not only as a pragmatic approach to dealing with conflict. &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Our nonviolence projects,&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">training</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;and activities (for children, youth, and adults) provide participants with tools that assist them in building communities founded on the principles of nonviolence and develop strategies and actions that allow them to address all forms of oppression and violence.' Inspiring non-violence strategies.</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ybicc1V1-L0/UT4L3WU_WNI/AAAAAAAAMAY/6oNhVpS5sZs/s1600/P1170220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ybicc1V1-L0/UT4L3WU_WNI/AAAAAAAAMAY/6oNhVpS5sZs/s400/P1170220.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.arij.org/">http://www.arij.org/</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</b>In its capacity as a national research institute, it frequently provides current data and research necessary to the formulation of position papers and policy strategies on such issues as land and water resources.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q86-8DMgTb0/UT4N1lD9OyI/AAAAAAAAMDw/OMQTeWjtfrE/s1600/P1170251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q86-8DMgTb0/UT4N1lD9OyI/AAAAAAAAMDw/OMQTeWjtfrE/s200/P1170251.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Badil - w</b><a href="http://www.badil.org/"><b>ww.badil.org</b> </a>&nbsp; Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and refugee Rights. very good source of information.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">DAY 8</span></b></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">First thing at 5am we went to the Gilo checkpoint between&nbsp;Bethlehem&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jerusalem. Many workers gather there as early as 4am in order to get to their work in&nbsp;Jerusalem&nbsp;in time. Although it is only a short distance away these workers have no idea on any day as to how long they will be&nbsp;delayed&nbsp;at the checkpoint or indeed whether they will get through at all.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qe6CHB9eGwQ/UT9nSXK8bAI/AAAAAAAAMKQ/95CMfTnV6Rw/s1600/P1170284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qe6CHB9eGwQ/UT9nSXK8bAI/AAAAAAAAMKQ/95CMfTnV6Rw/s320/P1170284.JPG" width="320" /></span></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">In the photo on the left you can see the queue of workers in the cage running along the wall towards the huge checkpoint building. The people on the right of the photo have given up on the humanitarian gate, which is closed and will have to join the regular queue. two men are seen jumping the queue by climbing in further up. This seems to be accepted by those waiting. Desperation to get to their work leads to desperate measures. Israeli employers can dismiss Palestinians even for sickness and that can lead to the loss of their permit to enter&nbsp;Jerusalem.</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We then &nbsp;travelled to Hebron via the&nbsp;Tent of Nations. Very well worth visiting.</span><br /><div style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JglDE6bcvJ8/UT9K2PqbgVI/AAAAAAAAMGc/G0GQ5rkSgV0/s1600/P1170451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JglDE6bcvJ8/UT9K2PqbgVI/AAAAAAAAMGc/G0GQ5rkSgV0/s200/P1170451.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Tent of Nations - <a href="http://www.tentofnations.org/">www.tentofnations.org</a></b>&nbsp; '<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">At Tent of Nations, our mission is building bridges between people, and between people to the land.&nbsp; At Tent of Nations,&nbsp; we bring people of various cultures together to build bridges of understanding, reconciliation, and peace. Inspiring creative non-violence.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;"><b>(See posting 'this is your land, this is my land')</b></span></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 21.984375px;">DAY 9&nbsp;</b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lM6re-zfAiY/UUXa3iG1byI/AAAAAAAANWM/0sAt8Nf3pt0/s320/P1170584.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Children in Hebron have to pass through these checkpoints every day. &nbsp;Often young children have their bags searched and are sometimes detained. the headmaster of the school can be seen in the background near the barrier checking in case any of the children are having&nbsp;problems. CPT stands at 2 of the checkpoints and EAPPI at another to monitor and protect the children from both the IDF and settlers.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lM6re-zfAiY/UUXa3iG1byI/AAAAAAAANWM/0sAt8Nf3pt0/s1600/P1170584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">Each morning CPT attends the school patrols at 7am and then again at noon when the children come home. We accompanied them each morning at 7am.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dwjmdw7yHTo/UUXmon1TUjI/AAAAAAAANhU/hiROz8UKT0w/s1600/P1170675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dwjmdw7yHTo/UUXmon1TUjI/AAAAAAAANhU/hiROz8UKT0w/s1600/P1170675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dwjmdw7yHTo/UUXmon1TUjI/AAAAAAAANhU/hiROz8UKT0w/s320/P1170675.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">We visited the soup kitchen in the Old City, which is an important resource providing food for many families in desperate need. &nbsp;We learnt that despite being in Area A, Israel will not give it planning permission to build an upper floor so that they can provide enough food for all rather than having to turn people away. They asked for our help to contact the Israeli authorities to try to get them to change their minds. Can providing food for desperate people be a security issue unless you are trying to drive those people to leave the area?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezjvGFvU1RM/UUXzHBZVX9I/AAAAAAAANuA/oOpFv-D9wiE/s1600/P1170780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5-1C6Ma94XA/UUXuplDbPnI/AAAAAAAANpY/7eD_A7aeFzQ/s1600/P1170743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #111111;"><span style="line-height: 21.984375px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">In the Afternoon we had a very interesting meeting with Atta Jabber who told us his story. &nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b style="color: purple; line-height: 21.984375px;">(See posting 'We refuse to be Enemies').&nbsp;</b><b style="line-height: 21.984375px;">Also mentioned Rabbis For Human Rights - &nbsp;</b><span style="line-height: 21.984375px;"><b>http://rhr.org.il/eng/&nbsp;</b></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 24px;">is the only rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, defending human rights of marginalised communities within Israel and the Palestinian Territories. &nbsp; The organization was founded in 1988, and today has over 100 members-all Israelis and all ordained Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Renewal rabbis as well as some rabbinical students.</span></span></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5-1C6Ma94XA/UUXuplDbPnI/AAAAAAAANpY/7eD_A7aeFzQ/s1600/P1170743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5-1C6Ma94XA/UUXuplDbPnI/AAAAAAAANpY/7eD_A7aeFzQ/s200/P1170743.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">You can see the tear gas clearly here.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezjvGFvU1RM/UUXzHBZVX9I/AAAAAAAANuA/oOpFv-D9wiE/s1600/P1170780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezjvGFvU1RM/UUXzHBZVX9I/AAAAAAAANuA/oOpFv-D9wiE/s200/P1170780.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">We then witnessed a clash between Palestinians and the IDF with ample evidence of tear-gas, rubber bullets, sound&nbsp;grenades&nbsp;and even live bullets. Although it is counter-productive for the Palestinians to throw stones at the IDF, it is hard to prevent children who are brought up in such a violent and unforgiving environment, often who have been evicted from their homes or have family members in&nbsp;Israeli&nbsp;jails, from expressing their anger and frustration in this way. This has become almost a daily&nbsp;occurrence.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 10</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">We travelled to the South Hebron Hills.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">Our first visit was to the village of At Twani where CPT used to have a team, but now Operation Dove has taken over to live with and be a protective presence for the villagers. &nbsp;The village has&nbsp;Israeli&nbsp;settlements close by with settlers who frequently attack both the villagers and the children on their way to school. The IDF have to provide the children with a military escort and just last week the villagers attempted to&nbsp;erect&nbsp;a tent for the children to wait in as the IDF are often late. Sadly, the same IDF force who accompany the children have destroyed the tent twice as it is considered a structure and the village has no planning permission for it!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cK8gtMaQVOI/UULfSxE1-hI/AAAAAAAANvM/NwSYXM9nlsY/s1600/P1170850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cK8gtMaQVOI/UULfSxE1-hI/AAAAAAAANvM/NwSYXM9nlsY/s200/P1170850.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UGm535XK0fA/UULfwJHa-lI/AAAAAAAANvM/5XkvHKlxCQs/s1600/P1170854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UGm535XK0fA/UULfwJHa-lI/AAAAAAAANvM/5XkvHKlxCQs/s200/P1170854.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">The photo to the left shows an abandoned village.&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;would say it was abandoned voluntarily. The villagers would say that they were&nbsp;terrorised&nbsp;out of it and now live in At Twani with the international protection.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">A large swathe of the South hebron Hills has been declared a military firing zone by the IDF. Although there are many villages in the area the&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;living in them are now seen as a security risk and Israel is attempting to evacuate them! How can this be seen as anything but another ploy to take more land in Area C?</span></span></span><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MOvDlBX6X6Q/UULeBLbwc0I/AAAAAAAANvM/oN1TzwvsTPg/s1600/P1170836.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MOvDlBX6X6Q/UULeBLbwc0I/AAAAAAAANvM/oN1TzwvsTPg/s200/P1170836.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;"><br /></span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">Operation Dove &nbsp; - &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;"><a href="http://www.operationdove.org/">http://www.operationdove.org</a></span></span></b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.984375px;">&nbsp; &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 21.984375px;">'</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">We are people committed to nonviolence and to finding nonviolent solutions to conflicts and war. &nbsp;</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">The action aims to improve people’s everyday life in the area of the South Hebron Hills. The objective of the project is to support mutual trust through nonviolent shared actions, build capacity for nonviolent conflict resistance, empower marginalized parties, and support cooperative policies and strategies of civil societies present in the area.' Also has teams in other parts of the world.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1b5DEp0RtUs/UUMITpT_yzI/AAAAAAAANvM/kktYZSnDln4/s1600/P1170997.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L-2hFE-IbLs/UU70hidOxYI/AAAAAAAAOQw/zpYsyIR3XVg/s1600/P1170938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L-2hFE-IbLs/UU70hidOxYI/AAAAAAAAOQw/zpYsyIR3XVg/s200/P1170938.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We had hoped to be taken down to Jinba, a village in the firing zone, by tractor, but that did not materialise so we climbed down instead. On our journey down we were invited into the village of Bir El Id, which I had visited as an EA. We had helped Taayush another&nbsp;Israeli&nbsp;human rights organisation (<b><a href="http://www.taayush.org/">http://www.taayush.org/</a></b>), drive sheep&nbsp;across&nbsp;the the South Hebron Hills to enable the villages to return to a village they had been forced to abandon. the Israeli High Court had given permission for their return, but the IDF and settlers were opposed to it.&nbsp;</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1b5DEp0RtUs/UUMITpT_yzI/AAAAAAAANvM/kktYZSnDln4/s1600/P1170997.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1b5DEp0RtUs/UUMITpT_yzI/AAAAAAAANvM/kktYZSnDln4/s200/P1170997.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">I am pictured with a member of<br />the family that kindly lent us<br />their cave for the night. she was<br />very unusual in wanting to be<br />photographed.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gi6ZqefiCYk/UUMGzD7LbOI/AAAAAAAANvM/RjWbk-1ChdI/s1600/P1170984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gi6ZqefiCYk/UUMGzD7LbOI/AAAAAAAANvM/RjWbk-1ChdI/s200/P1170984.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">We spent the night in Jinba where a family very kindly vacated their cave for us.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">This village is&nbsp;constantly&nbsp;under attack from the settlers, supported by the IDF, but is also fighting for its life through the Israeli courts as the new military firing zone is being given as the reason for Israel wanting them to leave their homeland, even though they have proof of ownership going back to Ottoman times.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hXujXbemhVo/UUMFTqp0AcI/AAAAAAAANvM/2Lt4_Hlz3DI/s1600/P1170964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hXujXbemhVo/UUMFTqp0AcI/AAAAAAAANvM/2Lt4_Hlz3DI/s200/P1170964.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The father of this child, now 13 years old, shows<br />the bullet wound in the boy's back, which he<br />received from an IDF bullet a year ago.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">And back to Hebron</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></b><br /><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></b></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 11</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N_d5kUxaIqE/UUWTaBap0NI/AAAAAAAANLM/g0X40ABTMq0/s200/P1180141.JPG" width="200" /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRQO0bsWHp8/UUWTiFFUlAI/AAAAAAAANLU/InqScbV8nwA/s1600/P1180142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRQO0bsWHp8/UUWTiFFUlAI/AAAAAAAANLU/InqScbV8nwA/s200/P1180142.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">After the morning School Patrol I had arranged to meet a couple of previous contacts and friends;</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Hamed who works as a Human Rights Officer for the UN and Naheel who also works for the UN distributing food aid.&nbsp;<span style="color: purple;"><b>(see posting 'This is your land, this is my land')</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRQO0bsWHp8/UUWTiFFUlAI/AAAAAAAANLU/InqScbV8nwA/s1600/P1180142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">In the afternoon we were expecting to join the weekly&nbsp;Saturday Israeli Settler Tour.&nbsp;Hebron is divided into H 1 and H 2. H2 takes up much of the Old City of Hebron and contains a number of Israeli settlements. the Palestinians living there have had their lives blighted by the very violent settlers. I will probably include another posting with the basic details of life in Hebron, but the weekly tour in which the Jews proclaim ownership of various building currently inhabited by Palestinians and often cause damage to the struggling Palestinian shops while protected by the IDF is an unpleasant affair. For some reason and most unusually, it did not take place on&nbsp;this&nbsp;occasion.&nbsp;</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 12</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WdEZPszW48Y/UU2Nn3RzvqI/AAAAAAAAOBY/Nsx2qvgdsf4/s1600/P1180172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"></span></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">After the School Patrol we travelled back to Jerusalem for the&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">last day of the delegation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WdEZPszW48Y/UU2Nn3RzvqI/AAAAAAAAOBY/Nsx2qvgdsf4/s200/P1180172.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Bob talking with Mordechai.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="kno-desc kno-fb-ctx" data-ved="0CKoBEM4g" style="background-color: #fff2cc; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 13px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">We had our last meal together as a team in The&nbsp;</span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Jerusalem</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">&nbsp;Hotel where we met Mordechai Vanunu. He is a former Israeli nuclear technician who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986 and after many years in solitary confinement in prison in Israel is now under a sort of house arrest, which means that he cannot leave Israel even to enter the West Bank.</span></span></div><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; line-height: 17.984375px;"><b>The Jerusalem Hotel -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jrshotel.com/">http://www.jrshotel.com</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;</b>This is a commercial organisation and the hotel is not a budget hotel and not where we stayed, but is a very convenient meeting place and restaurant close to the Damascus gate in East Jerusalem as well as being a good hotel for those who can afford it.</span><br /><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="line-height: 17.984375px;"><b>Alternative Tours -&nbsp;</b><a href="http://www.alternativetours.ps/"><b>http://www.alternativetours.ps/</b></a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The tours are designed to help you discover the most interesting places in the West Bank and Gaza . At the same time, they aim at providing you with background information about the life, history and current situation of the Palestinian people. ( I did not go on any on this visit, but have used them in the past).</span></span></span><br /><div style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">DAY 13</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Met a member of&nbsp;Combatants&nbsp;for Peace, visited the B'tselem office. In the evening another group had a member of Breaking the Silence come to speak to them and the 3 of us remaining joined in.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b><br /></b><b>Combatants for Peace - <a href="http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/">www.combatantsforpeace.org</a></b>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: inherit;">'<span style="color: #333333; text-align: justify;">The “Combatants for Peace” movement was started jointly by Palestinians and Israelis, who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence; Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army (IDF) and Palestinians as part of the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. After brandishing weapons for so many years, and having seen one another only through weapon sights, we have decided to put down our guns, and to fight for peace'</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Btselem - <a href="http://www.btselem.org/">www.btselem.org</a></b>&nbsp;the Israeli Information Centre of Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, which produces excellent reports and provides video cameras to Palestinians&nbsp;to record violence and human rights violations against them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b>Breaking the Silence -&nbsp;<a href="http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/">http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">&nbsp;is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavour to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population’s everyday life.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">I will probably add to this list and&nbsp;may&nbsp;also write further posts to explain how and when I came into contact with these organisations where they are not already mentioned in my posts.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span></div></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-17950867174737350932013-03-16T10:45:00.002-07:002013-03-20T07:14:59.104-07:00"This is your land, this is my land........"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QIu1v_7MADQ/UT98yMG2hiI/AAAAAAAAMdw/JJkrDFgkRLE/s320/P1170455.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daoud stands on his property known as the Tent of Nations, &nbsp;which is close to Bethlehem. &nbsp;His property is surrounded by Israeli settlements and he is having a long-standing battle with the Israeli courts who are trying to take his land from him. He has called his home The Tent of Nations&nbsp;because he invites internationals from around the world to&nbsp;work in creative non-violence with him to resist the occupation and &nbsp;the systematic confiscation of Palestinian land.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I have already said how shocked I have been by the deteriorating situation here, but can only repeat those feelings again as each day brings new examples of what can only be described as ethnic cleansing by stealth.<br /><br />We have spent the last few days in either the occupied Palestinian territory or the Israeli 'disputed' territory depending on your perspective. However, whether it is occupied or disputed, what is not in doubt is that there are people called Palestinians (Arabs if you are Israeli) living here and that not only have they lived here for generations, they often have the title deeds of their land going back to Ottoman times.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkHQp_VczME/UT9M95MSrFI/AAAAAAAAMHY/VnLOj6sVfDY/s1600/P1170460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UkHQp_VczME/UT9M95MSrFI/AAAAAAAAMHY/VnLOj6sVfDY/s200/P1170460.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cave used by the Tent of Nations.<br />As permission to build is not allowed<br />above ground. They have to build and<br />use space below</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">In Ottoman times there was an attempt to get the Palestinians to register their land so that they could be taxed. Many refused to do so and others only registered a small part of it. That was a mistake, but then hind-sight is a wonderful thing. The Ottomans had a land law that said that if land was not used for 3 years it would become state land. Israel has taken this law over in a much more extreme way. While Israelis can have parks and recreation areas, unless a Palestinian can show that he is actually farming his land, even if the land is unsuitable for farming and is only suitable for grazing, Israel can confiscate that land after 3 years. Sometimes settlers prevent Palestinian farmers from harvesting their land or the separation barrier or an Israel only road is built through it so that it is difficult to reach, but if that land is not cultivated it is confiscated.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGxEc-vyWRw/UULdXrU5jEI/AAAAAAAANvM/W6S6q2qJgH0/s1600/P1170827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGxEc-vyWRw/UULdXrU5jEI/AAAAAAAANvM/W6S6q2qJgH0/s200/P1170827.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><br />We saw many rather inhospitable places for farming where the local people feel obliged to sow something just to show that they are farming their land. Often Palestinians are offered no compensation for land taken from them, but occasionally they are offered quite large sums of money to entice them to leave. There are even cases of the IDF confiscating cars or tractors and offering to return them only if the Palestinians agree to move away. That is black-mail. However if Palestinians don't fight to maintain their land rights, there will be nothing left for them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHLNOnyBxAY/UUL-CPWAM1I/AAAAAAAAM54/yxwL-dMsZ1E/s1600/P1180015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHLNOnyBxAY/UUL-CPWAM1I/AAAAAAAAM54/yxwL-dMsZ1E/s320/P1180015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the village of Jinba in the new Israeli IDF<br />&nbsp;firing zone. The villagers can prove ownership back to<br />the Ottoman period and the Israel High court supports<br />&nbsp;them. The IDF and Israeli settlers ignore this ruling<br />and are still attempting to violently drive the villagers<br />from their village.</td></tr></tbody></table>There &nbsp;are also many cases where Palestinians who can prove beyond even the doubt of Israeli courts that they own land are continually under threat of at least demolition if not actual eviction from their land. Palestinians living in area C (around 60%) of the West Bank, which is the largest area and is totally controlled by Israel (this is Israeli 'disputed' land, not Israel) are constantly fighting to retain their property. They are rarely allowed permits to build anything on it, whether to expand existing homes or to provide water cisterns to collect rainwater, or animal sheds or even to plant or to sow their land. They are frequently surrounded by Israeli settlements already built on parts of their land and these settlements want to expand and to take even more land. <br /><div style="text-align: right;"></div><br />Where the Israeli High Court does give them legal protection, because there are occasions when it does recognise their right to exist on their land, the IDF and Settlers try to make their lives so miserable that they are forces to go 'voluntarily'. The Palestinian villages are often refused water and electricity, permits to make any alterations to their land or way of living and are continually under direct violent attack from settlers or of arrest for spurious reasons or for trying to defend their land, their homes, their children and their animals from Settlers who try to farm their land or take it by force. The State of Israel may recognise their rights, but fails to act to protect those rights and often Palestinians have to spend thousands of dollars in Israeli courts trying to prove and re-prove those rights. Some cases have been going on for many years as Israel tries to find loopholes that will give it permission to take the Palestinian land 'legally'. So how come these people are having to fight to keep and maintain their land at all? Why does the world stand by and allow that land to by systematically taken?<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfBqwHHYcRQ/UUXotzYZRfI/AAAAAAAANjg/AQzZmFOwHKw/s1600/P1170691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FfBqwHHYcRQ/UUXotzYZRfI/AAAAAAAANjg/AQzZmFOwHKw/s200/P1170691.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A house in Hebron that was first<br />taken by Israeli settlers. The owners<br />were able to prove that the property<br />was theirs, but the IDF have moved in<br />and will not allow the owners to return</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Even in Area A, meant to be entirely controlled by the Palestine, planning permission has to go via Israel. If the IDF thinks that they need a property for 'security' reasons they just take it. If Israeli settlers don't want a Palestinian living too close to an illegal settlement and they have failed to evict the occupants themselves, the IDF will then take the property and turn it into a military base thereby preventing the owners from returning. Where Palestinians still live close to settlement buildings Israel can prevent the Palestinians from altering or even maintaining their homes.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zpufhFnaS0k/UUXpe_kzKaI/AAAAAAAANkQ/Rwph755sMXs/s1600/P1170697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zpufhFnaS0k/UUXpe_kzKaI/AAAAAAAANkQ/Rwph755sMXs/s200/P1170697.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The man stands outside his home in<br />Hebron and shows us the planning<br />permission he has, which is useless<br />if the settlers with the help of the IDF<br />prevent him from his building work.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />There is a case in Hebron where Israeli settlers were evicted from a Palestinian house, which was then taken over by the IDF. The Israelis in a settlement close by complained about another Palestinian who was working on his home close by, saying that he was creating a 'nest for terrorists' and despite his having full planning permission for the work he was doing from the PA, he was ordered to stop the work by the IDF. Unfortunately that meant he could not put his roof on. The result has been not only that he cannot move into the new upper floor of his home, but everything inside of the upper floor has been damaged by winter rains. Yet this man lives in Area A within Hebron and with planning permission. This is very common.<br /><br />Palestinians are suffering terribly financially because of the occupation. Their&nbsp;livelihoods&nbsp;have been&nbsp;destroyed&nbsp;in many cases. They have huge court costs paid to Israel if they try to fight the various orders or for release fees after arrests whether charged with a crime or not. Their cars cost more to run because the Israeli road blocks, and closures mean the the Palestinian vehicles have to travel along poor or unmade-up roads, often over long distances, to get to a town or a field that would otherwise have taken minutes.<br /><br />I had coffee with a Human Rights Officer for the UN today. He gave me some good news. At least it is better news. He told me that the excuse Israel gives for not giving planning permission to Palestinians in the West Bank is that the areas where they live do not have Zoning Plans or Masterplans in place. For this reason some international organisations as well as Rabbis for Human Rights are expensively creating and placing Masterplans with the Israeli courts. The presentation of such a plan to the Israel&nbsp;authorities&nbsp;gives the area the plan covers 5 years grace during which it is relatively safe from demolition orders. When the plan is refused as everyone knows it will be, then another plan can be devised giving the local people further time. This can only be done with outside help due to the costs, but it is being done. It will not prevent Israel building more and more settlements in area C &nbsp;thereby creating what can only be described as cantons or designated areas for Palestinians to live, each cut of from the other, but it will mean that if Israel annexes Area C then those living within it will have to be given citizenship. As I have explained, this is not the same as being an Israeli National as rights are limited, but with the Palestinian birth rate as it is, that will still represent a demographic threat to Israel as a Jewish State.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-40493892110576032212013-03-13T10:19:00.001-07:002013-03-20T07:09:23.898-07:00What does it mean to hope?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Roman's 8. 24. To paraphrase this verse is simply to say that if you can already see what it is you hope for, then it is not hope, it already exists. Hope is when you cannot see the result and you have to wait patiently.<br /><br />I am posting this blog now because, although it is not polished, it was started several days ago and there is much new material to add. I will post this as if it was completed on the day I began it. As time is short and the internet is unpredicatable here, please forgive the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.<br /><br />Today left me feeling very depressed and even had me asking myself whether there was any point in continuing to try to improve life for the Palestinians. Sabeel in the morning spoke of hope, but gave no real reason for any, and ICHAD in the afternoon, gave so much information about the way Israel manipulates its own laws as well as Western media, that it left me feeling that there was no way that the giant, powerful, greedy and agressive machine could be stopped or even slowed down.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L7KAmDXV7_Q/UTi-_kIHYJI/AAAAAAAALT8/GZqwC_1GXpo/s1600/P1160710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L7KAmDXV7_Q/UTi-_kIHYJI/AAAAAAAALT8/GZqwC_1GXpo/s320/P1160710.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>&nbsp;Although I already knew some of what we were told today, much also came as an unpleasant revelation. Perhaps it was the way it was explained and the people who were explaining it. Cedar Duaybis of Sabeel told us how Israel keeps cleverly moving the goal posts so that it can continue to claim that it has 'no partner for peace'. Israel was created on land that had been inhabited by others for centuries. For those people to recognise the State of Israel was to ask them to deny their own right to that land. But in 1998, Palestine did accept the State of Israel, Israel then insisted that the Palestinians recognise Israel's 'right' to exist. In order to recognise Israel's 'right' to exist, they were, in effect being asked to deny their right to exist in that place. However eventually Palestine accepted Israel's right to exist. But that was not enough, because then Israel demanded that Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state. To do so would mean not just denying themselves the land, but to deny themselves equal rights on that land.<br /><br />During this time Israel has fragmented Palestinians into 5 different groups. There are the 1.6 million Palestinians within Israel, who have citizenship, but are not nationals. These Palestinians are denied the full rights of democracy and are treated as second class citizens. It is true that many Palestinians prefer to live within Israel, but that is because facilities are better than those of their neighbours living elsewhere. It is the lesser of two evils for many of them. The second group are those in the West Bank - 2.5 million. That land has been divided by Israel into 3 areas, A, B and C. A is in theory entirely under Palestinian control. B is under Israeli military control, but Palestinian civilian control and C in entirely under Israeli control. Area A is just 17% of the West Bank and is very fragmented by Israeli roads, settlements and the seperation barrier and the IDF frequently invades the area to arrest suspected 'terrorists' or for various unspecified other reasons. The PA is bankrupt. Israel witholds taxes that it has taken and controls every aspect of their lives.<br /><br />The third group of Palestinians are those in East Jerusalem. These people are neither Nationals nor&nbsp;Citizens&nbsp; They are just considered residents as if they have entered Israel to live, rather than that&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;has annexed the land and swallowed them up. Israel is openly trying to reduce their number and make their lives so miserable that they choose to 'voluntarily' leave.<br /><br />The fourth group are the many refugees scattered around the Middle East and also around the world. We were told later by another organisation called Badil (see web-site) that there are now more Palestinian refugees than from any other conflict ever. That was hard to take in and seemed almost unbelievable until we were presented with the statistics.Many are still living in squalid and vulnerable conditions in refugee camps both within this land and in many places outside of it. Some are dying in Syria right now.<br /><br />And finally there are those Palestinians living in the Gazan prison about which much as been written already.<br /><br />Palestinians are also divided among themselves. Israel refuses to talk with them until they are more unified. Yet it was Israel and the USA who had originally encouraged and funded Hamas as a means to fragment Palestinian politics. Now Palestinians find themselves in the catch 22 position where Israel refuses to negotiate if they try to include Hamas and refuses to negotiate if they don't!<br /><br />All the above is just a flavour of what Cedar, a Palestinian, told us and did not prepare us for <br />our time with Ruth Edmonds, an Israeli/British Jew from ICAHD. Ruth managed to explain Israeli policy in such a way that we were truly left wondering if the work of the many activists, both Israeli and international, was pointless. She also drove us around areas of East Jerusalem to show and explain the evidence. Yet I have finished this particular blog several days after I began it and we have met Palestinians who may be living under an oppressive regime, but are not themselves oppressed, because they have found new creative and effective methods of non-violent&nbsp;resistance.&nbsp; Those people give hope and inspiration in this seemingly hopeless situation. They need to know that we continue to support them. To loose hope ourselves would be to betray them.<br /><br />to be continued....!<br /><br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-75410340367230956692013-03-10T11:51:00.001-07:002013-03-24T07:09:02.488-07:00When bureaucracy is a weapon of war.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFBASXCxO50/UTubBAJtsYI/AAAAAAAAL0o/WJS9HhmPlaQ/s1600/P1170030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFBASXCxO50/UTubBAJtsYI/AAAAAAAAL0o/WJS9HhmPlaQ/s200/P1170030.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aziz, the son of the Sheikh holding<br />plaster balustrade from a demolished<br />house.</td></tr></tbody></table>Can you imagine having your home destroyed 47 times in two and a half years and still going back and rebuilding something on that land just to make sure that you keep hold of it? Can you imagine that before the first demolition you had had not just your crops and all the greenery on your land sprayed with Round-up each year for three years, but also had people, animals and houses sprayed, so that animals died and adults and children became sick? Can you imagine having 4,500 olive trees cut down, over 220 sheep, horses and a camel killed, your crops ploughed over to destroy them and yet you stay because it is your land and you can prove it? Then imagine those that have destroyed your property trying to hide the evidence by planting trees over it all?<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UX0bG1GM-s0/UTuYFlGcY8I/AAAAAAAALyo/8jsatIrCHZQ/s1600/P1170014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UX0bG1GM-s0/UTuYFlGcY8I/AAAAAAAALyo/8jsatIrCHZQ/s200/P1170014.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aziz shows us water pipes and<br />&nbsp;electrical wires from the demolished <br />houses</td></tr></tbody></table><br />No, I am not talking about the occupied West Bank of Palestine, I am talking about the land belonging to people who are citizens of Israel and can prove ownership of the land they have lived on and farmed since Ottoman times.<br /><br />We were told how the Bedouin people of Al Arakib had 573 people living on their land all with plenty of work and food. They sold organic free-range eggs, olive oil, milk, cheese and mutton. They grew wheat for their bread and barley &nbsp;for fodder for their flocks.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ptO-OFhKPZg/UTuMTKhwIgI/AAAAAAAALtM/QTyS5zgg_Qo/s1600/P1160953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ptO-OFhKPZg/UTuMTKhwIgI/AAAAAAAALtM/QTyS5zgg_Qo/s200/P1160953.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This area has had the barley ploughed<br />up by Israel as the village had not got<br />a permit for them on their own land</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In the 1970s Israel decided to measure their land. &nbsp;They flew over it and took aerial photos and told the elders that the photos were recognition enough of ownership. Then later they were told that it was a mistake on Israel's part and it was not proof of ownership, but just a claim for ownership.<br /><br />In 1998 they were asked to file their claim on the land. If there was no agreement they would have to go to court. Both sides would have to bring documents to prove the ownership of the land. The State refused to have to find any documents and so it went to the Supreme Court. The State of Israel referred to a law made in 1953 that says that all the land had been confiscated for the State, but the Bedouin had documents showing that they had paid taxes on the land under the British Mandate from 1921 to 1947 and the State failed to prove its case. The Supreme Court referred the case back to a lower court and ever since then the State of Israel has been trying to get around the fact that the Bedouin can prove ownership of the land and the case is still continuing to this day. In the meantime the State is trying to drive them out by any and every means and have handed the problem over to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) who are in the process of creating a forest on this land, as they have already done with the land of other Bedouin tribes.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sCj87Mbhyw/UTucxITwsgI/AAAAAAAAL2Q/keIjzGV3qo8/s1600/P1170043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sCj87Mbhyw/UTucxITwsgI/AAAAAAAAL2Q/keIjzGV3qo8/s200/P1170043.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newly forrested land</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The JNF advertise their intention to make the land green and to make national parks and to tick all those ecological boxes that the world looks for at this time. But as I have pointed out in a previous blog beauty here can hide more sinister behaviour. Many Bedouin left Israel in 1948, but those that remained have been systematically forced to move into smaller and smaller designated areas called 'Siyag'. The State has even tried to move them into towns and offered them infrastructure and amenities if they did so. But there was little work except in Israeli factories and very confined space with no room for expansion and so many of the them either turned to drink, drugs and crime or went back to their old land where they are in constant threat of being violently evicted.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tO3xBCnyXs8/UTuN9SOGoDI/AAAAAAAALus/VhU302Bp8Pw/s1600/P1160973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tO3xBCnyXs8/UTuN9SOGoDI/AAAAAAAALus/VhU302Bp8Pw/s200/P1160973.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Bedouin village with Israel heavy <br />industry in the background</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Israel finally agreed to 7 'Recognised' Bedouin villages that could have proper schools and some water supplied to them, but they are small and have little land on which to herd flocks,so there are also many unrecognised villages. The schools are the only buildings supplied with electricity and the rest of the village has no refuse collection, running water, roads or any other facilities. It is interesting to note that even the recognised Bedouin villages cannot be found on an Israeli map, whereas the small groups of Israeli homes in the same area are.&nbsp;It is necessary to remind the reader that these people are ALL Israeli citizens and as such are entitled to amenities. Unless a farmer gets a permit he cannot sow the land nearby with barley for his flock or even graze his sheep. There is therefore little work and the Bedouin are dependent on finding the money to buy solar panels from private companies and for all their needs.<br /><br />The result of all this is increasing prejudice against the Bedouin people who are now seen to live in little more than shanty towns surrounded by rubbish and largely barren soil. There are photos of Al Arakib from before 2010, which show the village before it was destroyed, surrounded by tees, crops and livestock.&nbsp;I will also remind readers that the ownership of the land is still in dispute. Israel has not so far been able to prove that the land no longer belongs to these Bedouin, yet it has not stopped the nightmare for those that are trying to live on their land. It seems to make little difference to Israel whether the land is legally theirs, based on their own laws, or not.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zPLKFNRbhig/UTuPZPRbkcI/AAAAAAAALwM/m8RqQlleAY8/s1600/P1160992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zPLKFNRbhig/UTuPZPRbkcI/AAAAAAAALwM/m8RqQlleAY8/s200/P1160992.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sheikh of the tribe</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The head of Al Arakib gave us an impassioned speech. "If Netanyahu wanted peace he should first make peace with the Palestinians at home. Only by making peace with their brothers can the Jews have peace. We also love the Jewish people. Many Jews come as activists with the hope of making Israel a just place, but the army is being brainwashed that the Bedouin are animals. The officers come and find that we are not animals. They co-operate with what Israel wants and make the Bedouin outlaws and slaves that are landless. &nbsp;Why does the country need all these trees? 3 years ago we planted our own. They have destroyed our future, but now we have trees!"<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YREQyhNozo8/UTuXBB_oPVI/AAAAAAAALxo/XOiho9vYlYc/s1600/P1170006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YREQyhNozo8/UTuXBB_oPVI/AAAAAAAALxo/XOiho9vYlYc/s200/P1170006.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sheikh speaking with Amos, an <br />Israeli activist and Tamar&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><br />One of the Israeli activists explained that Israel uses bureaucracy as an act of war and not an act of law. It is not a violent clash, it is a 'peaceful' situation for Israel. For Palestinians it is an ongoing war against them. It is war by stealth. The world would react if they saw more direct violence towards the Bedouin, but it turns a blind eye to bureaucratic ethnic cleansing.<br /><br />There was one very positive aspect of our trip. We took a couple of people with us and one of them was a young Israeli woman called Tamar. She had only recently joined the Israeli army and had been commissioned to be a correspondent for the Israeli radio, which is the main channel for the army. She was hugely knowledgeable and intelligent and had come with a genuinely open mind. If only more Israelis would show such interest and be prepared to engage as she did there would be hope.<br /><br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-34604271313207739862013-03-08T12:13:00.000-08:002013-03-08T12:13:10.522-08:00"He has buried his head in shit"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LgMGIvvqdFU/UToN9UR3aAI/AAAAAAAALdQ/SBVwnTZODzY/s1600/P1160799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LgMGIvvqdFU/UToN9UR3aAI/AAAAAAAALdQ/SBVwnTZODzY/s320/P1160799.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />Today I rediscovered what a small world we live in. Yesterday was really depressing and I will post about it later, but today made up for that simply because I found the point of carrying on that I had briefly questioned.<br /><br />We are still in Jerusalem and we don't venture to Bethlehem and on to Hebron and the South Hebron Hills until Sunday. So today, as it is a Friday, it followed that we should stand vigil with the Women in Black in West Jerusalem and then go onto the weekly demonstration at Sheikh Jarrah. I have been to both in the past and it was good to be there again to catch up with the friends I have made before and to find out what's new, both good and ill.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wiYtMi4kwpM/UToN0kzmA0I/AAAAAAAALdI/6RVqGpBvuSE/s1600/P1160798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wiYtMi4kwpM/UToN0kzmA0I/AAAAAAAALdI/6RVqGpBvuSE/s320/P1160798.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />There were a good number of people at the West Jerusalem roundabout. A mixture of old faces (and sadly the members of Women in Black are getting older and fewer) and new EAs as well as other internationals. There was also a woman on the other side of the road with an Israeli flag and the usual mixture of verbal abuse and thumbs up from passers by.<br /><br />I went to stand on a wall next to a younger Woman in Black who turned out to be 64 and we got talking. We discovered we had a very great deal in common. Her mother, like mine, had been a refugee from the Sudetenland in 1938 and had come to the UK. Her mother had also married an Englishman and at some point her family had also lived in Golders Green, North London! It was like finding a old friend and we enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the hour. Hopefully we can continue our new friendship though email and Facebook.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_hFYegiVTKk/UToOzqrgoYI/AAAAAAAALeA/dTLvmDm5e8A/s1600/P1160810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_hFYegiVTKk/UToOzqrgoYI/AAAAAAAALeA/dTLvmDm5e8A/s320/P1160810.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />I asked Nomi if she had seen the film 'The Gatekeepers' and she had of course. She told me that Netanyahu had refused to view it. I responded by suggesting he was burying his head in the sand. She replied "No, not the sand. He is burying his head in shit!" She also quoted the Arab MP, Ahmed Tivi, who had said "To be a victim of those who were victims is the worst thing." She said she felt optimistic, but when I asked her for an example of something positive, she sadly could not think of anything except the hope that the new government would be more left-wing.<br /><br />What is just so wonderful about these few Israeli women is that they stand for an hour at this West Jerusalem roundabout every Friday between 1.00 and 2.00pm whatever the weather and whatever the abuse they receive, with their placards against the occupation and they do so year after year without fail. To do so in the face of so little hope is inspiring. To do so, not in occupied territory, but in Israel itself where so many others refuse to hear or see what their leaders are doing just a short distance away from them, is brave indeed.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VdIKZIX0ZNI/UToTEEICBHI/AAAAAAAALhw/CRIqTQePrR0/s1600/P1160846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VdIKZIX0ZNI/UToTEEICBHI/AAAAAAAALhw/CRIqTQePrR0/s320/P1160846.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Palestinian man stands in front of the home that <br />was taken from him.</td></tr></tbody></table>Sheikh Jarrah is in East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel. It seems that many years ago some Jews did live in the area, but left it to move into the newly created Israel and now they want to return to those old homes; at least they want to take them back from the Palestinians who now live in them. These Palestinians moved into the empty houses when they were made refugees from Israel in 1948 and were forced to leave their homes there, which are now inhabited by Israelis. The response to the demand of the Israelis that they get their old property back is, 'yes of course, if we can have our old property in Israel back in return'. As far as Israel is concerned the Palestinians have no right of return so that is impossible. Meanwhile the Israelis are arriving and are evicting them from their homes &nbsp;and literally onto the street with nothing. Total injustice and hypocrisy.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Or7rSCKFyY/UToScVuh9rI/AAAAAAAALhQ/eD_zAJMevY4/s1600/P1160841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6Or7rSCKFyY/UToScVuh9rI/AAAAAAAALhQ/eD_zAJMevY4/s200/P1160841.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>So every Friday there is a demonstration consisting of evicted families, Israeli activists, other Palestinians and internationals like ourselves and EAPPI. Last time there were arrests of activists by the IDF, whereas on this occasion, the IDF allowed the demonstration to continue and even some harassment of the Israeli squatters. Sadly that is unlikely to change anything and meanwhile the remaining Palestinian residents continue to fight to retain their homes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lequVf-TDkg/UToWRSoKjTI/AAAAAAAALkg/jd1hLmk8EE0/s1600/P1160876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lequVf-TDkg/UToWRSoKjTI/AAAAAAAALkg/jd1hLmk8EE0/s400/P1160876.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Netanyahu and other Israelis as well as all their supporters around the world refuse to see that this is not the behaviour of those who truly live in a modern western democracy. Such behaviour can only be described as the work of the sort of tyrannical regime that they are so quick to accuse others of.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-8233186481057717892013-03-06T07:05:00.000-08:002013-03-06T20:36:07.618-08:00Beauty, truth and good wine.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I did a great deal of walking yesterday. After climbing the Mount of Olives &nbsp;I decided to walk back into the Old City by a different route and found myself in a small Israeli National Park called Zurim Valley and then following a trail through it and beyond. It was beautiful with lots of old olive trees, wild flowers, greenery and even sheep grazing. It had splendid views over Jerusalem and well as a wonderful walk in the valley below it and I found myself totally on my own except for 2 or 3 people tending it who were obviously Arab.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WC-TjDxq61Y/UTdLYIy9zNI/AAAAAAAALKA/8bUQE2HzzeM/s1600/P1160586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WC-TjDxq61Y/UTdLYIy9zNI/AAAAAAAALKA/8bUQE2HzzeM/s320/P1160586.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />I had wanted to sit in my favourite church on the Mount of Olives called Dominus Flavit, but, as usual, there was a tourist group having a service inside and it was impossible to even get close to it. I had also wanted to discover for myself the location of the Israeli Defence Force military college that is due to be built on top of the Mount. Just behind the famous landmarks lie many Palestinian communities. Must they be dispossessed to make way for the college? Being all alone in this wonderful landscape sent me into a meditiation. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_mCoYKWitM0/UTdIt-0PAiI/AAAAAAAALII/pe1x3XIolRo/s1600/P1160560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_mCoYKWitM0/UTdIt-0PAiI/AAAAAAAALII/pe1x3XIolRo/s320/P1160560.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />I remembered my visit to Yad Vashem with EAPPI when I was a serving EA in 2009/10. The museum opens onto a beautiful park below with the words saying that nothing like the horrors the Jews had endured should happen to the Jewish people again. The irony being that the beautiful parkland lies on the ruins of a destroyed Palestinian village. So here I was again in a beautiful area created on the ruins of other people's homes.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GSvq0QVwvJQ/UTdL9JZxRBI/AAAAAAAALKY/pmFoUfjHK_U/s1600/P1160590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GSvq0QVwvJQ/UTdL9JZxRBI/AAAAAAAALKY/pmFoUfjHK_U/s320/P1160590.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Last night I went to see the film 'The Gatekeepers' in West Jerusalem. That was an amazing experience; to be sitting among an audience of Israelis watching an Isreli made film that acknowledges that their behaviour towards the Palestinians has created terrorism for them rather than security.<br /><br />I find myself in an interesting position with my own Jewish roots, in that I can understand from the Jewish perspective why they want to create such spaces in their land, except this particular space in not actually their land. It is in land annexed by Israel. Every country demolishes buildings to make way for civic improvement, the difference here is that most democratic Western countries (and Israel claims to be such a country), compensate those who loose property and ensure that they are properly housed and have their rights respected. This is more about one privileged group of people wanting to get rid of those they do not want cluttering up 'their' land and just disposessing them. &nbsp;Before someone points out that there are actually many countires that do such things around the world, it is true, but does not make it right anywhere.<br /><br />Today I caught a bus and went to vist a vineyard called Cremisan. It is close to Bethlehem and has a Catholic monastery and a convent where quality wine is produced in the most beautiful surroundings. The vineyard lies on Palestinian land, but Israel has already stopped them from producing their best Marsala wine, because it says that a chemical used in the process could be used for explosives. Israel has also tried to market the wine as Israeli. Now, for 'security' reasons, Israel wants to put the Wall right through the middle ofit, ensuring that the vineyard and monastery are then in Israel and the convent and school run by the nuns remains in Palestine. The Wall is already being built despite court proceedings.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gd4KTrN9s78/UTdVZcDFkLI/AAAAAAAALRQ/rStG5zuQusI/s1600/P1160667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gd4KTrN9s78/UTdVZcDFkLI/AAAAAAAALRQ/rStG5zuQusI/s320/P1160667.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />On the hillside opposite the vineyard, stands the huge Israeli settlement of Gilo. The so-called security barrier could have run through the valley below and seperated the settlement from the monastery land. When the route was first considered a great deal of pressure was put on the RC church and all the benifits of being in Israel were sold to them. The convent gives school places to local Palestinian children and certainly was not prepared to find themselves cut off from their pupils, so now Israel is building a barrier dividing the monastery and convent leaving one in Palestine and taking the other, the profitable one, into Israel.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hLSC6o5ZnyE/UTdVCdJW67I/AAAAAAAALRA/H-pVVUXsEO0/s1600/P1160664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hLSC6o5ZnyE/UTdVCdJW67I/AAAAAAAALRA/H-pVVUXsEO0/s320/P1160664.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Is there any way to describe such a situation other than wanton, criminal theft on the part of Israel?! Here we have a case of profitable beauty on Palestinian land that Israel wants. Israel tends to just take what it wants because no-one stops them. they have the power and the might and the support of other so-called civilised Western democracies.<br /><br />Someone once said that Beauty is Truth, but here that is a lie.&nbsp;</div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-56504411393816186312013-02-26T01:20:00.002-08:002013-03-24T07:07:53.543-07:00Rockets from Gaza<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">This is just a very brief posting expressing my frustration and anger yet again for the BBC reporting of this incident. The fact is that&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;has broken the&nbsp;ceasefire&nbsp;agreement over 100 times since November. Farmers, fishermen and even children have been killed and maimed; agricultural&nbsp;buildings and land have been bulldozed; fishing boats within the area that is meant to be safe, have been confiscated and individuals taken into&nbsp;custody; not to mention the deaths in the West Bank of Palestinians&nbsp;demonstrating&nbsp;peacefully who have been hit by live rounds or imprisoned and abused and tortured. There are&nbsp;hunger&nbsp;strikes going on right now, with prisoners near death. One man has just died in an&nbsp;Israeli&nbsp;prison and the post&nbsp;mortem&nbsp;indicates that the death was caused&nbsp;by&nbsp;torture and not the heart attack that Israel claims.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrP-7vJ4wwE/UT4MmtMHreI/AAAAAAAAMBw/ZxxFpHKgvpQ/s1600/P1170234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrP-7vJ4wwE/UT4MmtMHreI/AAAAAAAAMBw/ZxxFpHKgvpQ/s640/P1170234.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Each time Israel extends a security zone it is done on Palestinian land. When the area is already small, that amounts to a lot of farmland, grazing areas as well as housing. Gaza is becoming more and more restricted by Israel's 'security needs', which means that when children or farmers or fishermen get shot and often killed, Israel claims that they had ventured into such security zones and were therefore killed or maimed legitimately. These zones can change frequently and are often reduced as a means of collective&nbsp;punishment. Many consider such Israeli &nbsp;State behaviour as incitement to more violence rather than a means for securing greater security for Israelis.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Many people believe that Palestine is on the verge of the 3rd&nbsp;Intifada. Is that what Israel wants, because if not, they do seem to continually goad the Palestinians into action.<br /><br />So yet again there is the bald simple news item on the BBC that a rocket has been fired from Gaza into&nbsp;Israel. &nbsp;No one was hurt, yet you know as well as I do that this is likely to be either the pretext for more open violence from&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;or the excuse for lack of peace&nbsp;negotiations, even more settlement building and 'Price-Tag' incidents, because we all know that&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;does "not have a partner for peace"!<br /><br /><br />A quote from an article by Jonathan Cook:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The latest talks between Hamas and Fatah broke down in Cairo this month, even though unity, in the view of most Palestinians, is a precondition of their seeking viable statehood. The talks’ failure followed the “arrest” by Israel of 25 Hamas leaders in the West Bank, seizures that Palestinian human rights groups and Hamas warned were intended to disrupt reconciliation.</span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Meanwhile, Israel has repeatedly undermined Abbas’s rule, and kept his PA close to collapse, by turning on and off one of its major sources of income — tax monies Israel regularly collects on behalf of the Palestinians and is supposed to pass on.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As a result, Abbas is trapped between various pressures impossible to reconcile: the need to keep Israel happy, to maintain legitimacy with his own people and to foster a shared political agenda with other Palestinian factions.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The sticks that Israel wields force Abbas to keep the door open to negotiations even as most Palestinians recognise their utter pointlessness. Likewise, his constant need to appease Israel and the US serves only to widen differences with Hamas.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Palestinians are stuck in a political and diplomatic cul-de-sac, unable to move forward either with the development of their national struggle or with talks on viable statehood. Whatever Obama’s intentions, the reality is that this will be another four years of diplomatic failure.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jonathan-cook.net/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #838c1c; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">www.jonathan-cook.net</strong></a>.</div><br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-75094999569039140892013-02-25T00:54:00.000-08:002013-02-27T11:57:49.227-08:00Fields of Heaven?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The University of Winchester asked me to make my next presentation a more positive one. They wanted me to show positive developments. I am all too aware that whatever the truth of what I have to say might be, hearing relentless negativity is unpalatable and also leads to the accusation of bias and much worse. So with that in mind I discovered an organic farm situated near Bethlehem called Fields of Heaven. I understood that it was an enterprise run jointly between Israelis and Palestinians and looked like the sort of development I needed. I decided that I would try to visit it on one of my spare days.<br /><br />Unfortunately it does not look as if a visit is likely to happen, because although I have been in contact with the farm, I have not managed to make any arrangements to visit and I don't even have a specific address for it. In order to get there I have made extensive inquiries and contacted all the leads I have been given along with existing Palestinian and Israeli contacts.<br /><br />However some of the responses I have received from both Israelis and&nbsp;Palestinians&nbsp;have been very telling. I have been told that the farm is not a good thing and that I should not visit it, because it is nothing but 'normalizing'&nbsp;the occupation'. So my understanding of this organic farm is that the land belonged to a Palestinian farmer. The Israeli settlers took it, but instead of doing what most of the other settlers have done, which is to drive the Palestinians off their land to make it wholly Jewish, they have decided to work with the Palestinians and to farm the land together.<br /><br />It probably sounds quite positive to you as it did at first to me, but imagine this: I come and take your home and your land and am ever so kind and instead of driving you off it I agree to share it with you. Are you happy now? Yes, it is better than ethnic cleansing, but in effect it creates a 2-tier system of occupier and occupied, with the occupied&nbsp;having few rights.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is dangerous from the Palestinian perspective because it&nbsp;normalizes&nbsp;a&nbsp;situation&nbsp;that is&nbsp;inherently unjust.<br /><br />So there goes my positive spin. I can use the material I have gained from all this, but it is difficult to use it very positively and instead I will have to look further.<br /><br />All this leads to the title I have used for my next presentations, which is '<b>Fields of Hope'</b>.<br /><br />I chose the title not just because of my intended visit to the jointly run farm, but because of Abraham's Field in Hebron. The Bible only tells us that he bought a field and not the whole area, but Hebron is where the tombs of the&nbsp;Patriarchs are situated and also where the Oak of Mamra&nbsp;can be found. It is here that Abraham entertained the 3 angels and pitched his tent. The site is now in the grounds of a Russian Orthodox Church. There is an ancient, half dead tree still there, but&nbsp;whether&nbsp;it is the original tree........<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqPVWdLlwRc/TlK4yN0IE9I/AAAAAAAAJQo/-lG5szJFF-I/s1600/P1060175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqPVWdLlwRc/TlK4yN0IE9I/AAAAAAAAJQo/-lG5szJFF-I/s320/P1060175.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />So a field is the cause of much disputed land and also the possible grounds for hope.....</div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-26847185675311899942013-02-24T04:55:00.000-08:002013-03-04T11:39:48.312-08:00Aren't I going to Israel?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Well, yes I am.<br />It is difficult to get into the occupied Palestinian&nbsp;territories (oPt) without going into Israel. Even going via&nbsp;Jordan entails passing through Israel checkpoints. I will be flying to Tel Aviv and then&nbsp;travelling&nbsp;to Jerusalem.&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't suppose that most people realise that East&nbsp;Jerusalem, including the Old City, is actually part of Palestine? The area was annexed by&nbsp;Israel in 1967, which is a stage further than occupying it, but it remains part of the oPt.&nbsp;It is also an area where Israel is putting increasing pressure on the Palestinians living there and&nbsp;endeavoring&nbsp;to achieve the one-undivided Jewish capital that they want so much. Even the Dome of the Rock is&nbsp;frequently&nbsp;under attack these days, not just by Israelis and the IDF entering the grounds, but by excavations beneath it and the ever growing open intentions to destroy it and re-build the Jewish Temple.<br /><br />I am now writing this blog in Jerusalem thankfully. I was very nervous before coming as<br />the first hurdle for anyone trying to get to Palestine is to get through airport security and be allowed into Israel. I imagine I am seen as an older, white, middle-class&nbsp;Christian who just wants to re-visit the roots of&nbsp;Christianity! It is NEVER advisable to give any real reasons as to why you have come, unless it is as a tourist and to visit holy places. To admit anything else; even to&nbsp;just&nbsp;mention the West Bank, is to open yourself to hours of interrogation with the danger of being refused admittance. It requires very little for that to happen. Both CPT and EAPPI have had participants denied entry with no explanation. So you can understand why going through airport security here is always worrying. Going home can also lead to interrogation and possible confiscation of photos or other material, but at least it is in Israel's interests to get rid of you if they are concerned, so it is usual to catch your flight home!<br /><br />I took a shared taxi called a Sharut to go to Jerusalem. It takes time to drop everyone off around Jerusalem, but is efficient and much cheaper than a taxi. It felt strange to be travelling on fast modern roads in a very Western way, knowing that just accross the Wall, many Palestinians are living a very different life.<br /><br />I am staying in the Golden Gate Hostel in the Old City, which so far looks good. I believe that the rest of the delegation arrives tomorrow evening or Wednesday when it officially begins. <br /><br /></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553983786563231156.post-66015317101337929632013-02-17T14:39:00.002-08:002013-02-27T11:57:11.044-08:00Preparing to go.......<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I receive so many emails on a daily basis that make me want to weep for all those who are suffering so much and with the frustration and anger that the world allows such atrocities to continue. I &nbsp;spend a huge amount of time sharing information, signing petitions, complaining to the BBC and writing to my MP. Sometimes it all feels very pointless, because the results of all that are, at best hidden and, at worse non-existent.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For those who believe that what I report is very one-sided and biased towards Palestinians, I ask these questions:&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What is it that Israel is trying to achieve right now?&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What is its end-game? &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If it is to have a secure and peaceful existence; is the settlement building; the demolition of Palestinian property making many families homeless; the violent breaking up of peaceful demonstrations; the use of long and sometimes abusive prison sentences for stone throwing; the use of administrative detention (basically detention without charge or trial that can be extended indefinitely); the building of a barrier on&nbsp;Palestinian land,&nbsp;dividing Palestinian communities;&nbsp;the IDF support&nbsp;of settlers who daily attack and destroy Palestinian property, etc. etc. not to mention Israeli policy in and around Gaza, then is that the way to achieve peace with another group of people who just happen to have lived on that land for generations?</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If Israel wants a 2-State solution, then the settlement building needs to stop immediately, because how can peace be&nbsp;negotiated over territory that is shrinking before the eyes of those whose land it is?&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If it wants a one-state&nbsp;solution, then&nbsp;&nbsp;how can it remain a Jewish&nbsp;democratic&nbsp;State without creating an apartheid system enshrined in law that by definition cannot give non-Jews the same rights as Jews?&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In all conscience can anyone claim that this is a dispute between equals when</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">&nbsp;those who are occupying the land are a modern military power funded and supported by the USA, and those whose land has been occupied mostly live under the military law of the occupying power? People who have no freedom of movement or trade; no right to defend themselves even with the stones at their feet; who live under the constant threat of 'Price-Tag' revenge from settlers and destruction of property by the IDF and who are met with rubber bullets, skunk spray, tear gas and even live rounds if they so much as peacefully demonstrate against the injustice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fact:&nbsp;Israel&nbsp;continues to break both International and human rights law. That is not my opinion, it is fact. Please see below for more detail.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Between October 2009 and January 2010, I spent 3 months in Hebron as an EA with EAPPI. My mother was a Jewish refugee from&nbsp;Czechoslovakia &nbsp;in 1938. She had always been ashamed of the treatment of the Palestinians by her fellow Jews, so I've had it in the back of my mind for many years that I would like to go there to do whatever I could. I have been back a couple of times and now I will be traveling with a CPT&nbsp;delegation to the same area.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This blog seems a good way to record and share my experiences.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7553983786563231156" name="settlementsLEGALSTATUS" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"></a><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7553983786563231156" name="settlementsLEGALSTATUS" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">- LEGAL STATUS -</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"></div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;"><li>The pre-amble of UN Security Council&nbsp;<a href="http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7D35E1F729DF491C85256EE700686136" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Resolution 242</a>, which was passed shortly after the 1967 War, in November 1967, stresses “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.” The text of Resolution 242, which is the cornerstone of the two-state solution and international efforts to make peace in the region for more than two decades, calls for the “Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Article 49</a>&nbsp;of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states that, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”</li><br /><li>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/195?OpenDocument" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Hague Convention</a>&nbsp;also forbids occupying powers from making permanent changes in the occupied territory unless it is a military necessity.</li><br /><li>In its 2004&nbsp;<a href="http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1677.pdf" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">advisory opinion</a>&nbsp;that deemed the wall that Israel is building in the West Bank illegal, all 15 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also found Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, to be in contravention of international law.</li><br /><li>Successive Israeli governments have argued that settlement building does not violate international law, however a formerly classified document dated September 1967 shows that the legal counsel to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Theodor Meron,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/opinion/10gorenberg.html" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">advised the government</a>&nbsp;of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol that “civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." Disregarding the opinion, in September 1967, Eshkol’s Labor government authorized the establishment of the first civilian settlement, Kfar Etzion, on the outskirts of Hebron in the West Bank.</li><br /><li>International human rights organizations like the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jrgw.htm" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">International Committee of the Red Cross,</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/illegal-israeli-settlement-plans-threaten-palestinian-human-rights-2010-10-15" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Amnesty International</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/18/israelwest-bank-separate-and-unequal" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a>&nbsp;have all condemned Israel’s settlement enterprise as illegal.</li><br /><li>Numerous United Nations resolutions have also affirmed that Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land in the occupied territories is a violation of international law. In 1979, the Security Council passed&nbsp;<a href="http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/BA123CDED3EA84A5852560E50077C2DC" style="color: #3f3f83;" target="_blank">Resolution 446</a>, which states: “the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”</li></ul></div>Miranda in Palestinenoreply@blogger.com0